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TO CERTAIN PARTS OF A WORK PUBLISHED BT 



MATHEW CAREY, 



1ENTITLED 



" THE OLIVE BRANCH," 



OR 



:j 3? 



• FAULTS ON BOTH SIDES. 



BY .N 






A FEDERALIST. 



J /: 



o ^ . ] 






^DISTRICT OF NEW-YORK, SS. Be it remembercJ, ihat on the 

;. seventeenth day of Februaiy, in the fortieth year of the 

In.'ependence of the United States of America, Wil' 

(L. S.) Ham J^PKean, of the said District, iiaih deposited ia 

this office the title of a Book, the right whe' e(if be 

claims as Proprietor, in the ords following, to wit : 

" An Ansv/er to certain parts of a work published by Mathew 

" Carey, entitled " The Olive Branch," or " Faults on Both 

« Sides." By a Federalist." 

In feonformit)- to the Act of the Congress of the United States, en« 

Lilledjv" An act for the encouragement of learning, by securii.g the 

" copies of Maps, Charts, ami Books, to the autho. s and proprietors, 

*' of such copies, during the time therein mentioned, and also to an 

** act entitled an act supplementary to an act entitled an act for the 

" encouragement of learning by securing the copifs of Maps, Cliruts, 

" and Books, to the authors and proprietors of such copies, diirii.p the 

" time therein mentioned, and extending the benefits thereof to the 

** arts of designing, engraving and etching historical and otl^r 

" prints." 

THEHON UUDD, 

Clerk of the Southern District of J^'e~.o-York.- 



^^ -T 



PREFACE. 



IF any person should be disposed to enquire, 
why the author of the following work should 
take upon himself so much labour, in a case 
where it is probable so little good will be done, 
the following explanation may possibly satisfy 
him on that subject. 

The Constitution of the United States was 
formed, and established, and the great principles 
of national policy under it were devised, by fede- 
ralists. Among the members of the Convention 
of 1787, were George Washington, Caleb Strong, 
Rufus King, William Samuel Johnson, Roger 
Sherman, Oliver Ellsworth, Alexander Hamil- 
ton, William Patterson, Governeur Morris, 
James Wilson, George Clymer, Richard Bas- 
sett, and Charles Cotesworth Pinckney, and 
many others of the same political family. Many 
of these men were employed in various branches 



IV 



ol the government, immediately after its organ- 
ization under that Constitution, and to their 
talents, wisdom, patriotism, and virtue, is the 
nation indebted for a large portion of the charac- 
ter, and happiness it has possessed. 

Under the auspices of one bad man, a system 
of slander and falsehood was devised and estab- 
lished, which, by deluding the great body of the 
people, eventually robbed these great statesmen, 
and their friends and followers, of their influence, 
and as far as possible, deprived them of theu* 
reputation. Such has been the effect of this de- 
testable conspiracy against virtue and talents, 
that, at the present time, many of the greatest 
men which the nation ever produced, are almost 
banished from the rcuo* lection of their country- 
men ; while their calumniators are hailed as the 
illustrious benefactors of their country. It is 
not in my nature to see such injustice as well as 
ingratitude pass triumphantly down the tide of 
time, without attempting, in some slight degree, 
to check its progress to'vards immortality. I 
am not willing to see Jefferson and Madison — 
the political " abomination of desolation, stand- 
ing v/here it ought not"-^in the places that ought 
to be occupied by Washington, Ellsworth, Jay, 



Hamilton, and King. I have, therefore, at. 
tempted to do justice to federal policy, as well 
as federal politicians, in one or two particulars, 
not v/ith the expectation of arresting the mad 
career of democratic passion, and democratic 
slander, but with the view of recording, for the 
benefit of those who may come after us, a few 
important facts, and the principles and reason- 
ing to which they gave birth, that in these parti- 
culars, at least, the mask may be plucked from 
the face of hypocrisy, and the truth be discerni- 
ble in the same living characters which were 
stamped by Heaven upon the visage of a cele- 
brated character of old. If these facts, and this 
reasoning are not useful to the future historian, 
it will not be the fault of the Author of these 
pages. 

United States^ 
DecenibeVy 181 60 



A 2 



AN 



\n^swer, &c 



^ 



i^i 



As 

Towards the close of the year 1814, whilst 
the United States were engaged in a war with 
Great Britain, — a war which was declared by 
their own government, and which threatened to 
produce the most fatal consequences to the na- 
tion, an anonymous volume appeared in Phila- 
delphia, under the imposing title of — " The 
Olive-Branch : or, Faults on both sides, Fed- 
ral and Democratic. A serious appeal on the ne* 
cessity of mutual forgiveness and harmony J^"* 
This book attracted considerable attention, par- 
ticularly on one side^ and was greatly commend- 
ed by many individuals of a party not much 
prone, either by natural disposition, or by habit, 
to promote, or practise, the spirit of harmony, 
or the virtue of forgiveness. That leading demo- 
crats should applaud a grave work, which charg- 
ed them with having committed important faults 
in their political career, was certainly a phenom- 
enon — ^that a work should appear from the pen of 



8 

one of the party, (for although anonymous its ge- 
nuine origin was easily discernibit) accompani- 
ed by so great a degree of frankness «s even to 
profess to place the two great political parties on 
a footing in this respect, could be c nsidered as 
scarcely less marvellous. A work, however, 
with such a title, did appear, it was commended 
by many of the most distinguished men of the 
democratic party, even by Mr. Jefferson himself, 
and from him, down to the lowest members of 
that part}''— the editors of democratic papers. It 
was announced as running through edition after 
edition, and with renewed marks of approbation 
and applause, until the author, unable to resist 
the overflowings of his gratified vanity, ushered 
his name to the public. He proved to be a cer- 
tain Mathew Carey, by birth and early educa- 
tion a foreigner and a British subject, but for 
many years past, a printer and bookseller in Phi- 
ladelphia. This man, like a great proportion of 
the intellectual and corporeal matter imported 
into the United States, has long placed himself 
before the American people as an able teacher 
in many important sciences — particularly in 
the science of politics. To doubt his com. 
petency for the employment, as well as that 
of many other foreigners who have obtained a 
footing in this country, would, probably, accord- 
mg to the modern notions, be considered little if 
any thing short of ** moral treason.''^ By the 
laws of criticism, and of disputation, however. 



9 

his book is a fair subject of examination. If it 
should not stand the test of a severe scrutiny, 
Mr. Carey's wounded vanity may, perhaps, find 
the balm of consolation in the long string of " re- 
commendations^'* prefixed to the " seventh edu 
tion^^ of his darling production. 

It may possibly be thought somewhat singular, 
that an answer to any portion of the contents i|of 
this work, should be made at this late period. 
Had the writer been in a situation to have made 
the attempt earlier, the circumstances of the 
work itself would have prevented him. The 
editions followed each other in such rapid suc- 
cession, and the state of the country was in such 
an unsettled and changeable condition, that it 
was by no means certain that a replication to 
the first edition, would sixiswer for the second^ nor 
could it be foreseen, that the doctrines advanced 
in one impression, won id not be altered, amen- 
ed, or even contradicted, in the next. In such 
an event, the labour devoted to the answer w^ould 
be thrown away, and very possibly, by some re- 
volution in public affairs, the two authors might 
find themselves unexpectedly on the same side 
of the question. So long a time, however, has 
elapsed since the date of the last edition, that 
there is less danger, while the author is taking 
breath, in attempting a slight examination of the 
book — a book, which, having run through " se- 
ven editions^ ^ in a little more than the space of 
one year, and being accompanied with no less 



16 

than 7?!^^ prefaces^ is entitled to some other no- 
tice than the compliments which the author has 
collected and republished in the first four pages. 
Nor is it impossible that the time has come, 
when the angry passions which were enkindled 
by the war may have so far subsided, that some 
people will be willing to read, and reflect, who a 
short time since were under the sole influence of 
prejudice and passion. 

Having passed through a kind of ** Great Dis- 
mal swamp" ofrecommendations, prefaces, &c. 
&c. at the beginning o^the hook^ we come, at last, 
to the beginning of the work itself, Tlie first 
chapter is devoted to sage reflections on the cri- 
sis of our affairs in 1814, dangers of parties, &c. 
With this, at present, I have nothing to do, but 
shall commence my remarks with the subject of 
the 2nd chapter. 

In the 2nd Chapter, Mr. Carey enters upon 
one great division of his plan, viz. — The Errors 
which the De7nocratic party have committed^ 
and which, in his opinion, contributed to that 
dark state of our political horizon, which was 
the grand cause of his writing the book under 
consideration. The object which he had in view, 
undoubtedly was, to convince the reader, that 
he was remarkably frank and sincere, and, in 
that way, in some measure to gain upon his con- 
fidence. *' I trust," says he, *' it will appear 
that I hav^e not done them, (that is the democrats) 
injustice in charging alarg^ portion of the folly 



11 

and guilt to their account," The errors which, 
in this chapter, he ascribes to democracy, are>-^-^ 

1. By using their influence in the Convention 
of 1787, to withhold power from the federal 
government, and to retain it in the State go- 
vernments — 

2. Opposition to a navy — 

3. Opposition to the Alien and Sedition laws, 
and the Eight per cent, loan — 

4. To Mr. Jay's Treaty. 

With respect to the first of those democratic 
mistakes^ 1 have nothing to say. The other three 
are entitled to some consideration. 

The opposition of the democrats to a navy, 
Mr. Carey ascribes to a spirit of hostility, to the 
party [the federalists] in power, and to " a sor- 
did and contemptible spirit of economy, '^^ The 
clamour, which he calls factious, against the 
Alien and Sedition laws, and the Eight per cent, 
loan, Mr. Carey considers as " the principal 
means of changing the Administration, and ta- 
king it from the hands af the federalists, to place 
it in those of the deinocrats.^^ The opposition 
to Mr. Jay's treaty, he says, " was a highly fac^ 
tioiis procedure on the part of the democrats.''' 
' — Here, then, is the confession of the author of 
the " Olive-Branch," diat the opposition and 
clamour against, these three branches of federal 
policy, were of the basest and most unprincipled 
kind—and that, base and unprincipled as they 
were, they were '' the principal means'' ofde. 



priving the federalists of power, and introducing 

the democrats to their places. 

Who were the men who produced this cla- 
mour, and excited this opposition ? Mr. Carey 
knows, or if he had not been long enough in the 
country to make the discovery, every native ci- 
tizen then on the stage, and tolerably well ac- 
quainted with the politics of the country, knows, 
that the origin of it is chargeable to Thomas Jef- 
ferson, and James Madison, and a small num- 
ber of other subordinate, but ambitious, and de- 
signing men, who were resolved to rule the 
country at all hazards, and to enjoy the sweets 
of power, and the comforts of emoluments, even 
if the best interests of the nation should fall a sa- 
crifice to their intrigues. They did succeed, 
and the whole policy of the nation was changed. 
The same corrupcion and intrigue which destroy- 
ed the influence of federalists, was necessary to 
bolster and preserve that of their successors. 
Accordingly the spirit of hostility to the navy, 
which vented itself in clamour and falsehood, 
during the federal administrations, completed 
its destruction in the period of democratic su- 
premacy • A large portion of it was sold, and in 
a great measure sacrificed, immediately after Mr. 
Jefferson was sworn into office, (1) and the re- 
sidue was placed in a situation to render it com- 
pletely useless — productive of neither good, nor 
evil, except, indeed, that it furnished a subject 
of expenditure from the national treasury, for the 



13 

laudable purpose of buying popularity for the 
Administration, 

The repeal of the Alien and Sedition laws, 
is a matter of not the least moment. The first 
was never executed — the second was an amelio- 
ration of the rigour of the common law ; but as 
its object was defeated by the senseless clamour 
of democracy, so when the democrats found 
themselves in a situation in whjch they wished 
to cry to the legal Hercules for help, they found 
him, as well as themselves, plunged so deep in 
the mire, as to be unable even to help himself, 
much less to assist them. 

Mr. Jay's treaty is a subject of more impor- 
tance. The operation and effects of that com- 
pact^ were more conducive to the prosperity of 
this country, than those of arty other instrument 
of the same nature ever entered into between us 
and another nation, saving the Treaty of peace 
of 17 S3, The opposition to it was vile, because 
it was designed for the vilest purposes — being 
nothing more nor less, than to revive the hatred 
of the people of this country against Great Bri. 
tain, in order to render federalists, who were in 
favour of its ratification, unpopular, and enable 
Mr. Jefferson to gratify his ambitious disposi- 
tion, by assuming the reins of government. 

He did assume the reins of government; and 
notwithstanding the beneficial effects of the treaty 
had been realized throughout the whole extent 
of our country, and in almost all the pursuits and 

B 



14 

employments of life? yet, when it expired, and 
the British government offered to renew it with 
us, the offer was rejected by him, because its ac- 
ceptance, on his part would have been an ac- 
knowledgement that his former opposition to it 
w. s without foundation and without integrity, — 
and because it did not comport with his policy 
to live on good terms with that nation. (2) 

And are federalists to be told by Mr. Carey, 
that a bare confession from him, that this grand 
scheme of intrigue, fraud, andfalsehood, by which 
Mr. Jefferson and his adherents, destroyed the 
popularity of some of the greatest and most vir- 
tuous statesmen that this country ever produced, 
was a democratic error, that such a feeble ac- 
knowledgement, at this late hour, is to be dig- 
nified with the title of the "Olive -Branch"? 
For fifteen years have the hollow-hearted dema- 
gogues, who contrived and executed the execra- 
ble scheme, enjoyed the fruits of their intrigue, 
by the rich harvest of power, \vhile the nation, 
through the instrumentality of the same body of 
men, has seen almost every important interest and 
privilege which it possessed, fall a sacrifice to 
their pernicious schemes of self-aggrandizement. 
Nay, what is still more extraordinary, these very 
men, after having run the round of their own 
projects, and found them destructive, as well 
as vain, have finally adopted the policy, and re- 
established some of the most important mea- 
sures, of the federalists whom they had ejected 



15 

from power, and rendered objects of public de- 
testation, by calumnies raised by themselves a- 
gainst these very measures. Justice requires 
something more from these bad men, than a 
mere implied and second-hand confession of 

tlie ir " e-rror^" If they have not integrity e- 

nough to lay down the power which they thus 
surreptitiously and corrupdy obtained, let them 
at least cease from their slanders against fede- 
ralists. 

As far, then, as, Mr. Carey's confession goes 
towards the establishment of the point, those 
parts of the federal policy, against which the de- 
mocrats clamoured the most, and by means of 
which clamour they succeeded in depriving the 
federalists of power, the wisdom, patriotism, 
and purity of the federalists are established; and, 
in the same degree, the unprincipled conduct 
of the democrats is irrefragably supported and 
confirmed. But this point does not rest solely on 
the confession of the auther of the OUve-Branch. 
This work has met the decided approbation of a 
large proportion of the most active, influential, 
and leading characters of the democratic party, 
as well as that of multitudes of their news- paper 
editors, and others. Among the former stand, 
in a very conspicuous station, the names of James 
Madison, and Thomas Jefferson. These men 
have, in this way, set their seal to the acknow- 
ledgment, that for the purpose of rendering the 
federalists unpopular, and turning themoutof of- 



16 

lice, in order that themselves might step into their 
places, they have been guilty of the " trror'^^ of 
falsely and hypocritically charging the federalists 
with misconduct, in cases in which they acted 
wisely, prudently, and justly, and have calum- 
niated them for measures, that were highly bene- 
ficial to the most important interests of the coun- 
try. When this state of facts is taken into con- 
sideration, is Mr. Carey to present his acknow- 
ledgement of this "error," in behalf of these 
men, to the federalists still suifering under this 
gross abuse, and, still objects of democratic re- 
proach and persecution, for the same measures, 
and to dignify the sarcasm with the title of an 
'' Olive- Branch''? 

In the next chapter, Mr. Carey pursues the suh- 
jtct oV^ depwcraticerrors.'^ by enumerating se- 
veral subjects, in whicli Mr. Jefferson was imme- 
dii'tely concerned, which, in his opinion, fall with- 
in that description. The first was the rejection of 
the treaty negociated by Monroe and Pinkney. 
The not at least submitting that instrument to the 
Senate, he says, was ''ainighty error.'"' This is 
a soft name for an act extravagant in itself as an 
exercise of power, and flagitiously wicked in its 
object. Mr. Jefferson had no riglu, by a fair con- 
struction of the Constitution to reject the treaty 
without first submitting it to the Senate. It was, 
to say the least of it, a great stretch of power ?nd 
arrogance in him to act upon his own judgment, 
ip a case of such vital importance to the interests 



17 

of the nation. But he did not neglect the plain 
path of his duty, merely because he disliked the 
provisions of the treaty. He acted under the in- 
fluence of much more efficacious reasons. He 
probably was surprized that a treaty had been 
formed, which was so nearly satisfactory as that 
under consideration, — he knew there was a pos- 
sibility that if it should be submitted to the Se- 
nate, that body might advise to a ratification of 
it, or, so much of it as was least objectionable, 
and to leave the remainder open to further nego- 
ciation, and, in that event, throw a heavy ad- 
ditional load of responsibility upon him, by re- 
ducing him to the necessity of approving or dis- 
approving their advice. Being determined, as 
there is every reason to believe he was> at all ha- 
zards, to reject the treaty, with or without the 
with advice of the Senate, he calculated his usual 
cunning and forecast, in taking that step in the 
fiirst instance. It was the fundamental principle 
of Mr. Jefferson's policy, to keep alive, and infulf 
vigour, the angry passions of the country against 
Great Britain. This single agent has been suf- 
ficient to regulate the motions of all his machi- 
nery of intrigue, and popularity. It is perfectly 
apparent, if he had suffered the treaty under con 
sideration to have been ratified, it would have 
adjusted and settled the difficulties between the 
nations, so far, at least, as to have saved us from 
perpetual bickering and recrimination, and from 

^at crooked, irritating and destructive course 

b2 



1« 

of measures, which, under his recommendation, 
our government afterwards pursued, and which 
led to the heaviest calamities that this country 
has ever endured, — those very calamities, which 
so alarmed the fears, and disturbed the tran- 
quillity, of the author of the 01ive-Branch,'as 
to induce him to write a book^ to save the coun- 
try from ruin. This is the grand secret of that 
bold and mischievous measure, which no man 
but a Jefferson would have dared to adopt — a 
measure which, in its consequences, has cost, to 
individuals in this country, untold millions of 
their property, has sacrificed the lives of many- 
thousands of our inhabitants, has involved the 
nation in a debt of not less than one hundred and 
fifty millions of dollars, and entailed upon the 
country distress, poverty, and a load of burthen- 
some taxes, for generations to come. 

The next " error''^ which Mr. Carey charges 
upon Mr. Jefferson's administration is — a neg. 
lect^ on his part ^ to enforce the laws against the 
authors of publications having a tendency to pro- 
duce a separation fif the States, These publica- 
eations he calls ''^insurrectional^ and treasonable^^ 
— and adds, that " it was the incumbent duty of 
the president to have the laws put in force, to re- 
press the offences, and punish the offenders — 
And if there were no law to reach the offence, he 
ought to have submitted the case to Congress, 
for the purpose of supplying the defect. " It is 
peculiarly u^iifortunate, that the self-conceit of a-^ 



19 

ny man should rise to such an extravagant height, 
as to persuade him that he could, b}^ a single ef- 
fort of his pen, rescue a nation, divided into 
violent and vindictive parties, and involved in 
the calamities of war, distraction, and bankrupt- 
cy, from destruction, when, at the same moment, 
he knows so little of the affairs of that nation, as 
to be ignorant of its laws, and, indeed, of the 
plainest principles of its written constitution. 

Mr. Carey may rest assured, that there were 
no laws which Mr. Jefferson could enforce, to 
repress what he is pleased to denominate ^^offen- 
ces,^^ nor to punish those whom he considers 
*' offender s^\ Mr. Jefferson wanted nothing but 
law, and courts and juries corrupt enough to en- 
force them, to have repressed every sentiment 
of freedom, everj^ principle of the constitution, 
and to have punished, with the utmost severitj", 
every man v/ho should dare to utter a syllable 
against the course of his vicious Administration. 
He harboured all the malice of a demagogue, and 
all the vengeance of a coward — and could he 
have found scope for their free exercise, federa- 
lism, and federalists, would have been sacrificed 
without measure, and without mercy. If any 
proof of his disposition in this particular shall be 
enquired for, reference may be had to certain ju- 
dicial proceedings, instituted and carried on in 
the Districts of New- York, at^d Connecticut, for 
the pretended purpose of vindicating his charac- 
ter; and which he was drawn by sheer fear of ex- 



20 

posure, when he found the truth was to be given 
in evidence, to order discontinued, after the ac- 
cumulation of an enormous bill of expense not 
only to the parties prosecuted, but to the United 
States. 

But, says Mr. Carey, he ought, if there were 
no laws to prevent the exercise of the freedom 
of speech and of the press, for this is all there 
was in the case, to have brought the subject be- 
fore Congress, that provision might have been 
made to remedy the evil. It is extremely un* 
fortunate for the people of this country, that we 
are under the necessity of receiving so much lec- 
turing from ignorant and arrogant foreigners — 
men, who have been educated under govern- 
ments so unlike ours, that the principles and 
practises of the one, very rarely can be made in 
any measure to apply to the other, and whose 
minds for the want of early instruction, early ha- 
bits, and an original adaptation to freedom, can 
never be brought to understand its genuine prin- 
ciples. Laws, to answer Mr. Carey's notion^, 
and Mr. Jefferson's purposes, might, perhaps, 
have been made by Congress, had it not been for 
a trifling difficulty, which stood in the way. 
That difficulty arose from the Constitution, 
where Mr. Carey may find it if he will be at the 
trouble, and perhaps the discovery may be of use 
to him when he once more revises his favourite 
book with a view to an eighth edition. 

By the first article in the Amendments to the 



21 

Constitution, it is provided — that ** Congress 
shall make no law abridging the freedom of speech^ 
or of the press^ To pass a law making it " in- 
siirrectionalor treasonable^'*'' to propose, in writing 
or by speaking, alterations in the Constitution, 
would seem to be a violation of this provision of 
the Constitution. If the principle is once grant- 
ed, that an individual may propose alterations, 
Vv'hatever the nature of these alterations may be, 
can make no difference. It is not in the power 
of Congress, under the Constitution, to prevent 
any individual, who may wish for such a change 
in our government, from proposing, in writing, or 
by speaking, that the President shall always 
come from the State of Virginia — that to save 
time and trouble, he shall have it in his power, 
by appointing a man Secretary of State, to ren- 
der him his lineal successor — or, even that the 
next Virginian, who shall succeed to the chief ma- 
gistracy, shall hold the office for life. However 
absurd and ridiculous the proposition for amend- 
ment may be, the Constitution secures a man 
from punishment for having made it, and no law 
that was in existence during Mr. Jefferson's ad- 
ministration, nor any that Congress could, con- 
stitutionally, have enacted, could have prevent- 
ed the exercise of the great constitutional pre- 
vilege of freedom of speech and the press. 

But Mr. Carey seems to consider it '' treason-^ 
able,'' to propose alterations in the Constitution. 
Here, again, he might have saved himself, at 



22 

least, a portion of the labour, of those '* hours 
stolen from sleepy'''' which he so pathetically in- 
forms his readers were occupied in writing the 
Olive-Branch, had he turned his attention to the 
Constitution ; because he would there have dis- 
covered, that treason, in this country .^ has not so 
broad and extensive a range, so uncertain and 
undefined a character, as in that where he deriv- 
ed his existence. Mr. Carey does not live now 
under a monarchy, without a written Constitu- 
tion, but in a republic with one. In that Con- 
stitution, it is said that — '' Treason against the 
United States^ shall consist only in levying war 
against them, or in adhering to their enemies, 
giving them aid and comfort*'^'' Tliis definition 
secures entirely all discussion on the nature of 
the government, or its susceptibihty of amend- 
ment, from the character, or penalties of this hei- 
nous crime. Honever desirous it may have 
been, or may hereafter be, to an aspiring chief 
magistrate, or a corrupt Administration, to shut 
the moviths, or stop the pen, of any citizen, on 
the subject or tendency of their measures, or the 
nature and qualities of the government itself, 
such magissr.ite, or Administration^must mourn 
in silence over their misfortunes or procure the 
form of government to be changed into a mo- 
narch^ — f'srthe Constitution expressly autho- 
rizes discussions of this nature. 

Another " error'''' which Mr. Carey charges 
upon Mr. Jefferson's Administration, is — the 



23 

not enforcing the Embargo, That measure, 
which excited the scorn of Great Britain and 
the contempt of the world, this profound states- 
man pronounces — '' a most efficient weapon for 
procuring redress from England,^^ It is wasting- 
time to discuss this point. The embargo did 
not starve Great Britain, nor her colonies — it 
did not humble Great Britain — it did not bring 
her to any terms — it did not even make her low- 
er her tone. x\nd, yet, this measure, merely be- 
cause it was devised by Mr. Jefferson, and was 
accompanied with some traits of character strik- 
ingly descriptive of the man, and of his gene- 
ral policy, viz. — blustering, when he was safe, 
towards Great Britain, and servile and cringing 
towards Buonaparte — was then, and, it seems, is 
now, applauded by such politicians, as the au- 
thor of the Olive-Branch — ^^men, whose minds 
are too narrow, and whose views are too limited, 
to comprehend systems of policy calculated for 
the interests and prosperity of an extensive na- 
tion. It is not, hou'e ver, at all surprising that Mr. 
Carey should consider it so easy a matter to en- 
force such a measure as that of the Embargo — a 
measure, which when viewed, as it would seem 
to have been by its author, as permanent was, be- 
yond all question, unconstitutional. His igno- 
rance of the very nature of a free government, 
like ours, would naturally lead him into such a 
mistake. But, had the experiment been conti- 
Bucd a little longer, he would have had oppor- 



24 

tunity to learn, that the people of this country 
understand their constitutional rights ; and, 
when convinced that they are invaded, that no 
earthly power can rob them of the possession. 

In the 4th chapter, Mr. Carey ad^^erts to the 
refusal to renew the charter of the Bank of the 
United States, as an '' error''* of the democratic 
party, " This circumstance," he says, ** in- 
juriously affected the credit and character of 
this country abroad — produced a great degree of 
stagnation, distress, and difficulty at home — and 
was among the causes of the late embarrassments 
and difficulties of the pecuniary concerns of the 
country." This, again, is very moderate Ian- 
guage to be applied to this iniquitous transac- 
tion, especially by a man, who, if we are not mis- 
informed, had an immediate interest in that in- 
stitution. It is holding out the Olive-Branch to 
the party who committed the '* error ^^"^ rather 
than to their political adversaries. A more flagi- 
tious transact! on than the one here alluded to, per- 
haps never occurred in a well regulated legislative 
body. The Bank of the United States, was an 
institution of the highest importance to the na- 
tion. It answered all the honest purposes vof the 
government — it was of great advantage to the 
people atlnrge. Its credit was perfectly establish- 
ed, its operations were regular, beneficial, and 
just, its controul over tlie monied concerns of 
the country was sufficient to keep them in pro- 
per check, and its effects would have been such 



25 

as to have prevented the deadly blow which the 
national credit, and the individual business of 
the country, have since received. The renewal 
of the charter was refused, professedly on the 
ground, that Congress had not the Constitution- 
al power to incorporate such an institution. The 
real ground was, that it was, in a great measure, 
owned by federalists, independent and honour- 
able men, who were too careful of their interest, 
to suffer it to be controlled by the Administra- 
tion of the national government, and too high-^ 
minded, as well as pure, to be made subser- 
vient to Cabinet corruption. The Administra- 
tion had discernment enough to see, that to car- 
ry on their projects against the constitution and 
liberties of the country, a monied institution 
would be an all important machine, and as they 
could not obtain the control of the old Bank, 
they were resolved to get rid of it, and create a 
new one which would be more subservient to 
their views and inter^t. Accordingly they re- 
fused to renew the charter — because^ as they al- 
ledged, it was unconstitutional ; and when they 
had fairly rid themselves of it, without any alte- 
ration of the constitution, or 2j\y new power from 
any other quarter, the same men who had been 
so scrupulous in the other case, without any he- 
sitation, or qualms either constitutional or con- 
scientious, proceeded to establish a new Bank, 
calculated not only to answer all the wishes of 
the Administration, be they ever so corrupt, but, 

c 



26 

when occasion shall requh*e, to endanger the li- 
berties and independence of the nation. 

One other subject, under the head of " demo- 
cratic errors,''^ will be particularly noticed. Mr. 
Carey frankly considers it an *' error ^'''^ that the 
City of Washington was suffered to be taken, 
and the public buildings destroyed. " It is not 
for me,'^'^ says he, ** to decide on whom the cen- 
sure ought tofall^--on the president — the secre- 
tary at war — on the district general^ Winder--^ 
or on the whole together.^' If, however, Mr. 
Carey had been sincerely disposed to ascertain 
the truth, to trace the '* ^rror" to its source, and 
to fix the disgrace of that most disgraceful event 
on its real authors, it was his duty to have fur- 
nished himself with the necessary means of de- 
ciding. It is in vain to say, here has been a mis- 
take^ unless you are able to determine by whom 
it was made. It was not worth the labour of 
recording if it was not of sufRcient importance to 
be charged to the guilty source from which it 
proceeded. 

There are three persons, and tliree persons 
onlv, on whom this foul affair rests — and ever 
will rest, viz. James Madison, James Mon- 
roe, and John Ar mst r o n g . It is true, Ma- 
dison and Monroe, have had address enough 
. to sacrifice Armstrong, as a victim to appease 
popular clamour. There would have been ex- 
actly the same justice, had the event taken place, 
in Arm.strong's sacrificing Madison and Mon- 



27 

roe. The country ought to have sacrificed all 
three. I am perfectly sensible, that the attempt 
has been made to divide the blame between Ge- 
neral Winder, ^nd the Secretary of War. The 
object was to furnish the President and Secreta- 
ry of State with a scape-goat whilst they should 
find a refuge from the storm of public indigna- 
tion. If General Winder, did not perform his 
duty, why was he not cashiered ? If Armstrong 
was negligent, the man who made him Secreta- 
ry of War was on the spot, to witness his inat- 
tention, or incapacity, and had the power of un- 
making him. Shall the idea be tolerated for a 
moment, that {he two highest officers of the go- 
vernment, who were present, and actually did 
engage, for awhile, in the business of defending 
the capital, may shelter themselves from respon- 
sibility, on the shallow pretext, that it was the 
appropriate and technical duty of the Secretary 
of War to superintend all the military concerns 
of the nation? Why did these peace officers 
buckle on their armour, and amble their steeds 
as far as the borders of Biadensburgh ? Surely 
not for the mere purpose of fleeing, hke cowards, 
from the face of the enemy. It would have been 
a safer calculation, to have turned their faces to- 
wards Montgometry, in the first place, and left 
the whole burthen on the shoulders of the War 
Department. Instead of puorsuing this course, 
they knew of the enemy's landing at Benedict, 
six days before the capture of the city — they 



28 

ought to have known that their object could be 
no other than the city of Washiiigton — they 
might have known, if they had taken the least 
pains for that purpose, that his force was con- 
temptibie — they could not but knov»7 what mea- 
sures were parsuhig by the District General for 
the safety of the capital—- and they did consult, 
and act, *' more or less," until the last moment ; 
for they all three actually rode to Bladensburgh, 
arrived there just as the British entered it ; and 
so profoundly ignorant were they, even then, of 
the situation, and movements of the British 
troops, that, had it net been for the timely warn- 
ing of a respectable gentleman, whom they had 
a little before most grossly abused, they would 
all three notwithstanding their extraordinary ca- 
pacity for retreating, inevitably have been made 
prisoners — a catastrophe that rnight have beeii of 
invaluable advantage to the nation. 

Away then with the pretence that it was the 
appropriate duty of the Secretary of War, or the 
District General, to have superintended tlie mi- 
litary operations on this momentous occasion. 
It was the duty of the President, as " Comman. 
der in Chief of the Armies of the United States," 
he bemg then in the field, to have superintended 
the Secretary of War, To the latest period of 
lime, this foul reproach upon our national cha- 
racter should be remembered against the Cabi- 
net ; nor should the waters of the most dull and 



29 

stagnant pool in the land of oblivion be suffered 
to efface its remembrance. 

Mr. Carey in two or three preceding chapters, 
enumerates a variety of topics which he consi- 
ders as democratic *' error s^^"" of which I shall 
not separately take notice. A few incidental re- 
marks will be sufficient for my purposes, as they 
Telate to this part of the work. 

On the subject of the armistice proposed by 
Admiral Warren, the rejection of which he af- 
fects to rank among the democratic " error s^^^ 
he introduces, rather abruptly and awkwardly, 
the repeal of the Orders in Council. Although 
the repealing act of the British government was 
satisfactory to our Administration, and was ac-- 
cepted as such, yet Mr. Carey, and a good many 
otherwise men of the party, have discoveredj 
that it was, in reality, no repeal at all. Unfor- 
tunately, they are extremely dissatisfied with it» 
I have only to remark on this subject that it is a 
matter of unavailing regret that these gentlemen 
were not consulted in season, so that the instru» 
ment of repeal might have been modified in such 
manner as to have met their wishes. I do not say 
that any body is absolutely in fault For this ap- 
parent neglect ; for it is very certain that it could 
not have been foreseen, after they had calmly 
swallowed what Bonaparte first called his repeal,. 
as completely satisfactory, that they would have 
boggled at the repealing act of the British go- 
vsernment. Nor, probably, was it foreknow^n, 

c2 



« 







even to our prognosticating Cabinet, that Mr, 
Carey would write a book, in which he would, 
in one page, set down the refusal of our Admi- 
nistration to accept Admiral Warren's offer of 
an armistice on the ground that the Orders in 
Council were repealed, as a cardinal " error'^'' on 
their part, and on the next page, declare that 
those Orders were, in truth, not repealed, but 
that the act of the British government, purport- 
ing to be a repeal, was a mere cunning and hy- 
pocritical pretence. 

Mr. Carey also charges it as an egregious 
*' error^'' in both Mr. Jefferson and Mr. Madi- 
son, that they neglected public opinion — that is, 
that they did not take sufficient pains to contra- 
dict and counteract the various charges made a- 
gainst them, and their measures. Every man is 
the guardian of his own character— -he knows 
how much it is worth, and can scarcely fail of 
being tlie best judge how far an attempt to vindi- 
cate it, when it has been aspersed, will be profi- 
table, or otherwise. Mr. Jefferson had once a 
fair opportunity to stand the scrutiny of truth, 
and of strict examination — but he shrunk from 
it. I allude to the before- mentioned prosecu- 
tions brought before the Circuit Court of the 
United States in the District of Connecticut, and 
in- the State court of the State of New York, for 
libels upon his reputation. The defendants, in 
those cases, were prepared to justify by giving 
the truth in evidence, but, either because he iti- 



31 

terfered^ or for some other reason, rather than 
let the truth be disclosed, the prosecutions were 
all discontinued. 

Upon the whole, the federalists will not feel 
much indebted to Mr. Carey, for this aifectation 
of candour, in charging these things as " errors*^ 
upon the democratic party. His confessions, 
backed as they are by the certificates of Jefferson, 
Madison, and a long catalogue of other democra- 
tic names, that their outcry against Mr. Jay's 
treaty, and the Alien and Sedition laws, &c. was 
all unfounded, are a complete vindication of 
the conduct of the federalists relative to those 
subjects. 
2. Federal Errors. 

Under this general head, the" Olive-Branch" 
becomes a mere collection of democratic news- 
paper slander against federalists — a perfect far- 
rago of opprobrium, gleaned from documents, 
speeches, toasts, and grog-shop harangues, com.^ 
piled, sorted, and emphasised, so as to present 
a formidable phalanx of short sentences, and sta- 
ring capitals, duly arranged, and displayed, of 
sufficient numbers, at least, to make the stoutest 
federal heart to quake for fear. 

My attention, however, will be in a great mea- 
sure devoted to two principal subjects, into 
which the author has gone at great length, with- 
out noticing many minor topics of a scurrilous 
and malignant character, which are here retailed 



52 

at a very moderate profit from the wholesale or 
manufacturers' price. 

1. The War. 

2. Alledged attempts on the part of 
the eastern federalists to bring 

ABOUT A DIVISION OF THE StaTES. 

Under the 1st head, viz — The War, it will be 
necessary to examine, at some length, the gene- 
ral cause of democratic policy w^hich? by a regu- 
lar series of measures, finally terminated in open 
hostilities with Great Britain. The charge has 
been made thousands of times against federalists, 
that their conduct provoked the measures of Great 
Britain which eventually forced our government 
to declare xvar, and when the war was declared, 
that they refused to support it. 

In support of this charge, appeal is made to 
the fact, that in 1806, in consequence of the sei- 
zure of our vessels by the British, for alledged 
violations of the rights of belligerents, in carry- 
ing on neutral trade, the merchants in our large 
commercial towns, presented strong memorials 
to Congress, complaining of these depredations, 
and calling loudly for redress. A short answer 
might begivento all the charges against federalists 
oil this subject — the war was not declared for 
these spoliations. Whatever the merchants may 
have urged, or promised, in those memorials, 
as hostilities were not commenced for the sei- 
zures and condemnations of 1806, the pretend- 
ed pledges of the merchants were not forfeited^ 



33 

The merchants in their memorials in 1806, did 
not promise the government their support in a 
war declared in 1812, professedly founded on 
the Orders in Cour;cilof 1 807, and on the charge 
of Impressnient. These were the grounds of the 
war, if the Manifesto speaks the truth — ^and in 
swpport of this war there are no mercantile pled- 
ges. Nor did the merchants mean to be under- 
stood, in their memorials in 1806, that the gov- 
ernment might let the British seizures, and spo- 
liations go on for six years, and then, upon 
their plunging headlong into a war unprepared, 
that they should be called upon to redeem pled- 
ges of so long standing. One other circumstance 
is to be borne in mind, on this subject — The 
government, notwithstanding the great losses 
and injuries which the merchants sustained, and 
the earnest request v/hich they made for mea- 
sures to protect them against a continuance of 
those injuries, disregarded their petitions as well 
as their complaints, -and took no effectual mea- 
sures for their relief, or their security. It is true, 
the Senate once passed a Resolution, declaring 
that the seizure and condemJiation of our vessels 
was a violation of our neutral rights^ and an en. 
croachment upon our independence. It is also as 
true, that Congress passed a partial nonimpor- 
tation law — A ridiculous and disgraceful mea- 
sure, calculated only to excite British resent- 
ment or British contempt — and they sent Wil- 
liam Pinkney to join James Monroe, asplenipo- 



rt 



4 



tentiaries, to ncgociate a treaty, who, on the 31bt 
of December 1806, signed a treaty with Great 
Britain, which they sent home, and 'which Mr. 
Jefferson rejected, without ever laying it before 
the Senate. Thus the business stood, and thus 
merchants were left — and thus they \verc com- 
pletely discharged from whatever pledges may 
have been contained in their memorials in 1806. 
We are now prepared to enter on the com'- 
mencement of that course of belligerent mea- 
sures, which gave birth to Mr. Jefferson's 
scheme of policy which he dignified with the ti- 
tle of *'the restrictive system" — and 
which led the country on, step by step, till it ter- 
minated in a war. In November 1806, appear, 
ed Bonaparte's celebrated Berlin decree, declar- 
ing all the British Islands in a state of blockade, 
prohibiting all commerce and correspondence 
with them — declaring all British subjects found 
in countries occupied by his troops, or those of 
his allies, prisoners of war — and all merchan- 
dize to be good prize — \c. he. This decree, 
extravagant as it xvas, Mr. Carey says, "i.9 ca- 
pable of some df fence; a defence not void of 
plausibility. It was promulgated," says he, "to 
retaliate the blockade of a great extent of coast, of 
which, two thirds were not invested by any 
force whatever." And his argument is, that 
because Great Britain had declared a line of 
coast in a state of blockade, when the force be- 
fore that coast was not sufficient for the whole 



35 

extent of it — therefore, Bonaparte had a right to 
dealare all the British Islands, in a state of block- 
ade, when he had not a single ship afloat. To 
meet the Berlin decree, the British government 
issued their well known Orders in Council, of 
January and November 1807, and Bonaparte 
subjoined his Milan decree on the 17th of the 
following December. 

On the 18th of the same month, one daj^ after 
the date of the Milan decree, Mr. Jefferson sent 
his Message to both Houses of Congress, re- 
commending a general Embargo. At this time, 
no information had been received in this country, 
of the existence of the British Order of Novem- 
ber, nor of the French Milan Decree. It is said 
by Mr. Carey, that on die morning of the day, 
on which the Embargo Message was sent to Con- 
gress, and previous to its delivery, there had 
been published in the National Intelligencer the 
following paragraph from a London Paper — 

London, Nov. 10- 

" A proclamation is now, we understand, in 
readiness for his Majesty's signature, declaring 
France and the whole of her vassal Kingdoms 
in a state of seige, and prohibiting all intercourse 
with her or them — and all entrance of vessels into 
her or their harbours, except such as have clear- 
ed last from a British port, either home or fo- 
reign.'' He adds to this, that — ** various pri- 
vate letters to the same effect, had been received 
by diff'erent citizens." On such evidence as 



36 

this and two or three other papers, of no more 
significance than this, was that contemptible, 
and ruinous measure, the Embargo, recom- 
mended by Mr. Jefferson, and adopted by a ser- 
vile majority in both Houses of Congress. 

Having thus, at a stroke, and without a mo- 
ments warning, put an end to all foreign trade 
and commerce of this country, and by a mea- 
sure, which, in its very nature, as well as its ne- 
cessary effects, was calculated to excite in Great 
Britain a strong impression of hostility to her, 
and partiality to France, it became necessary so 
to manage our intercourse with her, as to do a- 
way that impression. All the recesses of cu»- 
ning and imposition, and the whole vocabulary 
of duplicity were explored and exhausted, in the 
atteropts which were made to establish the im- 
partiality of this measure. As far as chicanery 
in logic, and bold and unqualified assertion, 
could go to establish the point, the administra- 
tion met with complete success. At home, 
however, where the chc*iracter of the men ^vas 
better known, the nature of their policy, and the 
tendency of their measures were more clearly 
discerned, and utiderstood, and their efiects 
more distinctly realized, they did not so well suc- 
ceed in their attempts at imposition. Ten thou- 
sand circ una stances combined to prove, beyond 
the possibility of doubt, that in this, as well as in 
all other cases, they were actuatea by inwplaca- 
ble hostility to one nation, and servile attach- 



'^ 



37 

ment to the " Great tyrant" who ruled the other.' 
The embargo, as might have been foreseen by 
every person possessed of the least discernment, 
excited loud and encreasing uneasiness and cla- 
mour. Its restrictions were evaded, and its pe- 
nalties contemned. And when, at a subsequent 
session of Congress, an attempt was made to en- 
force a strict observance of it, by the passing 
what was commonly called — *''T/ie Enforcing 
Acf' — the clamour became not only general, 
but highly alarming to the administration. They 
gave way from the mere fear of losing populari- 
ty, and the laws laying and enforcing the em- 
bargo were repealed. Not being willing, how- 
ever, entirely to abandon the " System,'*^ they 
passed over to a Non- intercourse. This was lit- 
tle more than shifting names — the new measure 
was almost as fatal to the general interests and 
prosperity of the country as the old — and the 
clamour against the whole scheme of commer- 
cial restrictions was continued. In the mean 
time, also, the presidential honours had chang- 
ed hands — Mr. Jefferson, after having done 
more, in the short space of eight years, to de- 
stroy the prosperity of his country than any o- 
ther man, under like circumstances, ever accom- 
plished, had retired ; but with the comforting, 
the heart cheering consolation of reflecting, that 
his successor would go on, to the utmost of his 
power, to consummate the ruin of the country, 

D 



38 

which he had been obliged unwillingly to leave, 
' in some measure, unfinished. 
/ Mr. Madison came into office in March, 1809. ; 

- At that time the country was in great uneasiness, 
and the public clamour was growing louder and || 
louder every moment. In the spring of every 
yean the elections in many parts of the country | 
take place;, particularly in the State of New. York, 
and in New-England. Mr. Madison, being new 

in his place, and having his popularity in a great 
measure topurchase, was no doubt extremely 
alarmed. The State of New- York was a large 

- and powerful State — the only one east of the Po- 
tomac, that could ever expect to rival, in political 
influence, the State of Virginia. The loss of trade 

• was felt throughout the whole extent of that po- j 
pulous, growing, and commercial community — | 
the annual elections would take place the latter 
part of April— and if it should go against the i 
Administration, its consequences would neces- 
sarily prove to be very deplorable. Under these 
circumstances, and for the express pur- 
pose OF PRODUCING A FAVOURABLE EF- 
FECT ON THE EASTERN ELECTIONS, AND 
PARTICULARLY IN THE StATE OF NeW- 

YoRK, a very sudden and unexpected measure 
took place, which, for the time answered the 
purpose. I allude to the celebrated arrangement 
with the British Minister, Erskine. 

The attack made by a British frigate upon the 
frigate Chesapeake, as was perfectly natural, had 



39 

excited a great degree of warmth in the public 
mind. Had the act been sanctioned by the Bri- 
tish government, it would have been such an a- 
trocious violation of our sovereignty, as that 
war must inevitably have ensued. That govern- 
ment, however, did not sanction, but difsapprov- 
ed of it, and sent a special minister to this coun- 
try for the sole purpose of adjusting it in a man- 
ner satisfactory to our government. His instruc- 
tions were confined to that subject, and the diffi- 
culty might have been settled, and disposed of, 
had not Mr. Jefferson thought proper to insist on 
coupling with it other matters, to which Mr. 
Rose's powers did not extend, and to refuse to 
revoke his proclamation, interdicting British 
vessels from entering our ports, and the ne- 
gociation was broken up without accomplishing 
the object. Mr. Carey says, when giving his 
history of this transaction, that — -'' The federa- 
lists were as loud in their denunciations of the 
lawless violence, as the democrats." Whether 
federalists were ** as loud^^'' on this subject, as 
the democrats, or not, is of no importance. 
There never was a time when the federalists were 
not at least, as zealous to repel, and, if proper, 
to punish, real national injuries, as the demo- 
crats. Had the British government approved 
the attack on the Chesapeake, there would not 
have been a federalist in the country who would 
not have lent his utmost aid to the government, 
in demanding satisfaction for the injury. The 



40 

federalists, however, did suppose it proper to 
wait and see what course the British government 
would pursue. They had no idea of charging 
an outrage committed by the captain of a frigate, 
upon the government in whose service he was 
employed, before it was ascertained whether he 
acted by their orders, or according to the. dic- 
tates of his own judgment. The moment it was 
known that the act was disavowed, it ceased to 
be just ground of hostilities, and it only became 
a subject of negoclation, for the purpose of de- 
termining what kind of reparation the injury 
done to our honour required. Mr. Rose was 
authorized to make the satisfaction which the 
case required ; but Mr. Jefferson was too state- 
ly to yield what at first was a mere punctilious 
point, and at the same time demanded some- 
thing more than reparation for the affair of the 
Chesapeake ; and as Mr. Rose's powers did not 
comprehend that something, the matter was left 
unadjusted. It is perfectly apparent from the 
correspondence between the Secretary of State 
and Mr. Rose, that an attempt was made on the 
part of the former, to draw^ the latter into a situa- 
tion in which he should be induced to transcend 
his powers. After a long discussion of grievan- 
ces, and authorities, to persuade Mr. Rase to 
meet our government on the whole list of their 
claims, Mr. Madison closes his letter in the fol- 
lowing manner — '* I am not unaware, sir, that 
according, to the view which you appear to have 



41 

taken of your instructions, such a course of pro- 
ceeding has not been contemplated by them. It 
is possible^ nevertheless^ that a re-ex afnination^ 
in the Spirit in which I am persuaded it will be 
made may discover them not to be inflexible to a 
proposition^ in so high a degree^ liberal and con- 
ciliatory*^^ In answer to this insidious request, 
Mr. Rose replied as follows — *' It is with the 
most painful sensations of regret that I find my- 
self on the result ofit^ under the necessity of de- 
clining to enter into the terms of negocidtion, 
which by direction of the President of the United 
States, you therein offer, I do not feel myself 
competent, in the present instance, to depart from 
those instructions, which I stated in my letter of 
the 26th of January last, and which preclude me 
from acceding to the condition thus proposed. I 
should add, that I am absolutely prohibited from 
entering upon matters unconnected with the spe- 
cific object I am authorized to discuss, much less 
can I thus give any pledge concerning them.'^l 
This subject may perhaps be noticed a little 
more particularly hereafter. 

This affair having been thus left unadjusted, 
it descended, with the mass of fixtures and heir ^^ 
looms, to Mr. Jefferson's successor — Mr. Ma- 
dison — who took possession of the national es^ 
tate in March 1809. Aware of die difficulties 
of his situation, and having learned in the school 
in which he had so long been a diligent, and dis- 
tinguished scholar a portion of its characteristic 

d2 . 



4^ 

cunning, his first step was to obtain at least a 
momentary popularity from those who had been 
the steady, able, and conscientious opposers of 
his predecessor's administration. For this pur- 
pose, his attention was naturally directed to the 
subject of commercial restrictions. The effects 
of that pernicious system were seriously felt 
throughout the country ; and a growing uneasi- 
ness and alarm existed at the strides which ab- 
solute power was making over the barriers of the 
constitution ; threatened the very existence of 
power in the dynastj^ of which he was now the 
constituted head. Whether from intimations 
given from our Cabinet, or from some other 
source, I pretend not to conjecture, but moved 
by some impulse exactly suited to the circum- 
stances and wants of the Administration, Mr. 
Erskine, the British Minister at Washington, 
addressed a letter to the Secretary of State, dated 
the 17th of April, 1809, in which, after profes- 
sing to consider an act of Congress, passed at 
the preceding session, as placing Great Britain, 
in her relations with this country, on an equal 
footing with other belligerent powers, he offered, 
on the part of Great Britain, to make reparation 
for the attack on the Chesapeake. This produ- 
ced an answer, dated the satne day^ from the Se- 
cretary of State, in which he informs Mr. Ers- 
kine, that the president could not but receive 
with pleasure assurances that his Britannic Ma- 
jesty was animated by a disposition to adjust 



43 

that difficulty ; and then, m a careless manner, 
he alludes to the subject of the non- intercourse, 
and of '' the equality now existing in the relations 
of the United States with the two belligerents." 
The macliinery of the two governments now 
moved rapidly. On the 18th Mr. Erskine, 
doubtless taking the hint from the Secretary's 
letter of the day before^ opens the grand subject 
of the non-intercourse. " The favourable change 
ip the relations," says he, *' of his majesty with 
the United States, which has been produced by 
the Act, usually termed the Non -intercourse 
Act, passed in the last session of Congress, was 
also anticipated by his majesty, and has encou- 
raged a further hope, that a reconsideration of 
the existing differences, might lead to their sa- 
tisfactory adjustment. 

'' On these grounds and expectations, I am 
instructed to communicate to the American go- 
vernment, his Majesty's determination of send- 
ing to the United States, an Envoy Extraordi- 
nary, invested with full powers to conclude a 
treaty on all the points of the relations between 
the two countries. 

'* In the mean time, with a view to contribute 
to the attainment of so desirable an object, his 
Majesty xvould be willing to withdraw his Or^ 
dersin Council of January and November ^ 1807, 
so far as respects the United States^ in the per- 
suasion that the President would issue a procla- 
mation for the renewal of the intercourse xvith 



44 

Great Britain^ and that whatever difference of 
opinion should arise in the interpretation of the 
terms of such an agreement it will be removed 
in the proposed negociation." 

On the same day^ the Secretary of State retur- 
ned the following answer — " The note which I 
had the honour of receiving from you this day, 
I lost no time in laying before the President, who 
being sincerely desirous of a satisfactory adjust- 
ment of the differences unhappily existing be- 
tween Great Britain and the United States, has 
authorized me to assure you, that he will meet 
with a disposition correspondent with that of his 
Britannic Majesty, the determination of his Ma- 
jesty, to send to the United States a special En- 
voy, invested with full powers to conclude a 
treaty on all the points of the relations between 
the countries. 

'* I am further authorised to assure you^ that 
in case his Britannic Majesty should in the mean 
time withdraw his Orders in Council of January 
<ind November^ 1807, so far as respects the 
United States^ the President will not fail to issue 
a proclamation by virtue of the authority and 
for the purposes specif ed in the eleventh section 
of the statute^ commonly called the Non Inter * 
course Act y On the day following^ viz. the 
19th of April, Mr. Erskine says, that '* in con- 
sequence of the acceptance by the President, as 
stated in your letter of the 18th instant, of the 
proposals made by me on the part of his Ma? 



45 

jesty, in my letter of the same day, for the re- 
newal of the intercourse between the respective 
countries, I am authorized to declare, that his 
Majesty's Order in Council of January and No- 
vember, 1807, will have been withdrawn as res- 
pects the United States, on the lOth day of 
June nexty On the same day, the negociation 
was brought to a close, by the following letter 
from the Secretary of State. *' Having laid be- 
fore the President your note of this day, con- 
taining an assurance, that his Britannic Majes- 
ty will, on the lOth day of June next, have with- 
drawn his Orders in Council of January and 
November, 1807, so far as respects the United 
States, I have the honour of informing you that 
the President will accordingly, and in pursuance 
<f the eleventh section of the statute, commonly 
called the Non-Intercourse Act, issue a procla- 
mation, so that the trade of the United States 
with Great Britain may on the same day be r<?. 
?ierved, in the manner provided in the said sec- 
tiony This was followed by a proclamation, 
bearing date the same 19th day of April, 1809, 
declaring the Non- Intercourse Act to be sus- 
pended, agreeably to the stipulations in the let- 
ters just recited. 

" Never," says Mr. Carey, *' was there a 
measure of more fairness and candour, than the 
arrangement made by our government with 
Mr. Erskine. The annals of diplomacy may 
be ransacked in vain to produce a negociation 



46 

more deserving of encomium, or more honour- 
able to both parties." Again, '^ never was a ne- 
gociation conducted on more Hberal or generous 
principles. It was manly and magnanimous — 
and affords one of the very few instances in 
which diplomacy xvas divested of her usual at- 
tendants, chicane andfraud,^^ It is a prevailing 
habit with our democrats, to fix the stamp of 
superlative merit on whatever measures proceed 
from their masters in the cabinet. No man of 
ordinary common sense, divested of the blind- 
ness of party spirit, can be deceived with re- 
gard to the true character of this measure. It 
argues nothing in favour of the talents, or public 
spirit of the administration, except that they 
were able to over-reach a simple young man, 
entrusted with the superintendence of matters 
far above the reach of his capacity, and to ac- 
complish an object well calculated by its sudden 
and unexpected effects, to produce a momen- 
tary popularity in favour of the new President, 
and to turn the scale of politics in some of the 
doubtful states, particularly the State of New- 
York, to the side of democracy. What other 
talent beside cunning is displayed in this corres- 
pondence and negociation ? What is there in it 
that is either magnanimous or manly ? What 
proof that it is not contaminated with both 
" chicanery andfraud?''^ 

This " arrangement" was entered into by the 
British Minister against the plain letter of his 



4T 

powers ; and it was rejected by his government 
on that ground. If Mr. Madison was ac- 
quainted with the extent of his authority, his 
conduct in enticing him to transgress it, was 
disgraceful, and deserving of the most unquali- 
fied reprobation. If he had not ascertained the 
true nature of that authority, it was scarcely less 
criminal in him to proceed blindfold in an affair 
of such importance, and plunge the country into 
the difficulties which must necessarily follow so 
disastrous an event, as the refusal on the pare of 
Great Britain, to ratify an agreement made by a 
Minister Plenipotentiary, on the ground that he 
had transcended his powers. This was a di- 
lemma, from which nothing but the wilful and 
benighted devotedness of his partizans, could 
ever have extricated Mr- Madison. It is in vain 
for him to say that he trusted to the declaration 
of the British Minister, taking it for granted 
that he understood the nature and extent of his 
own powers. It was a gross dereliction of duty 
in him, to trust to any thing short of absolute 
knowledge. The Minister was with him, and 
when the proposition to treat on so momentous 
a subject was first made, it was the indispensa- 
bleduty of the President to make himself cer- 
tain of his powers ; so that the arrangement, if 
made, should be executed. 

Mr. Carey exults much at the conduct of the 
federalists, on the publication of this arrange- 
.ment. *' Never,'' says he, " was measure more 



48 

loudly or unanimously applauded. Parties 
agreed in their encomiums on the act and the 
actors, who never before accorded on any sub- 
ject." It is true, that federalists, chained down 
as they had been for years to the JefFersonian 
block, and thrown out of business by a ruinous 
course of measures, did feel elated at such an un- 
expected deliverance from their ignominiousbon- 
dage ; and, under the full force of their feelings, 
many of them did precipitately and imprudent- 
ly, commend the President for the part he had 
acted. It was a short-sighted course of conduct 
on their part. In vindication of it, it may fairly 
be urged, that they supposed that the measure, 
which was so interesting to them, had been fair- 
ly and frankly entered into, and was honestly 
intended to produce effects of more general im- 
portance than to encrease the popularity of the 
new chief magistrate, and inflaming the public 
passions still more against Great Britain. If the 
federalists, who were for a moment off their 
guard, and suffered themselves to be deluded 
with the idea, that Mr. Madison was more just 
and patriotic than Mr. Jefferson had been, had 
known, that the arrangement on the part of the 
the British Minister was made without autho- 
rity, and, of course, would not be binding on 
his government, and that our administration had 
either negociated with him knowing that his 
powers did not extend to the subject, or that 
they had proceeded without taking any pains to 



. 4t 

ascertain what the nature and extent of his pow- 
eft's were, they would have viewed both " the act 
and the actors ^^'^ with that contempt and indig- 
nation which such conduct richly deserved. 
That contempt and indignation were reserved 
for the hour w hich disclosed the fact, that the 
arrangement was rejected by Great Britain, be- 
cause her Minister had acted without power, 
and when the ^^ chicanery and fraud'''* of our 
administration, stood exposed to the world. 
Then the federalists had opportunity to learn a 
most interesting and important lesson, viz. that 
fraud and chicanery are the most prominent and 
distinguishing characteristics of the Virginia dy- 
nasty, and that the members of that dynasty, are 
never to be watched more closely, nor to be 
more deeply suspected, than when they pretend 
to act with fairness, frankness, and integrity. 

Circumstances, however, justify the conclu- 
sion, that the President knew that Mr, Er- 
skine acted without authority in entering into 
tlie arrangement. In the first place, it is per- 
fectly in character. It was no very high exer- 
cise of cunning, that habitual and characteristic 
cunning, which attends all the Jeffersonian poli- 
ticians, to outwit and over.reach a man of such 
moderate discernment and talents as Mr. Er- 
skine. It was well known by the cabinet, that 
he was eagerly bent on adjusting the difficulties 
between this country and his own, and, no doubt 
he expected, if he succeeded, th/ltrong ap- 

E 



no 

plauses of his government and nation. Seizing 
hold of this circumstance, the administration 
had an easier task in the attempt to gull him, 
than his feeble capacity alone would have fur- 
nished them with. In the second place, by ad- 
verting to the correspondence between Mr. Mad- 
ison, then Secretary of State, and Mr. Rose, 
relative to the affair of the Chesapeake, we shall 
find that a precisely similar attempt to induce 
him to violate his instructions, was made upon 
him, though without success. Mr. Madison 
exer-ted himself to the utmost to draw him into 
that situation, after an acknowledgment on his 
part that he was acquainted with the nature and 
extent of his powers. *' / am not unaware y 
Sir^^'' said he, in his letter of the 5th of March, 
1803, " that according to the view which you 
appear to have taken of your instructions ^ such 
a course of proceeding has not been contemplated 
by them. It is possible, nevertheless, 

THAT A RE-EXAMINATION, IN THE SPIRIT 
IN WHICH I AM WELL PERSUADED IT WILL 
BE MADE, MAY DISCOVER THEM NOT TO 
^E INFLEXIBLE T*0 A PROPOSITION, IN SO 
HIGH A DEGREE LIBERAL AND CONCILIA- 
TORY." Here the proposition to violate, or 
transcend his instructions, was made to Mr, 
Rose in plain and direct terms, softened only by 
the claim, always made by our administration, 
that their own proposals were in a high degree 
liberal and conciliatory — language, which their 



d1 

modesty, in almost all similar cases, leads them 
to apply to themselves. When it is found that 
this attempt has been made, in one instance, 
though unsuccessfully, what is the probability 
with respect to another, equally important 
and interesting to the party concerned, on one 
side, and the chance of success, from the cha- 
racter of the other party, much more promising ? 
Having found the Jeifersonian politicians uni- 
formly intriguing, hollow-hearted, and hypocrit- 
ical—having found them abundantly successful 
in their attempts to impose on this deluded and 
believing nation, and being perfectly convinced 
that their principles are corrupted, their disposi- 
tions ambitious, and their love of power inordi- 
nate and unbounded, I have not charity enough 
to acquit Mr. Madison of the charge of having 
exercised the talents on this occasion, to which 
he is indebted for all his popularity and power. 

But, if my opinion should be uncharitable 
towards him, where, I beg to enquire of Mr. 
Carey, is the mighty claim of super. abundant 
merit in Mr. Madison, in entering into this ar- 
rangement ? Mr. Jefferson and he, together, had 
been guilty ofextreme injustice tothe nation, and 
particularly to the mercantile portion of it, by 
their mischievous measures. Finding these 
measures doing very little substantial injury to 
any body except ourselves, and being extremely 
apprehensive that the public clamour, which 
had begun to break forth against the authors of 



52 

them, would become louder and louder, and in 
the end, *' sweep away their refuge of lies," he 
was urged into the negociation with Mr. Er- 
skine by the strongest motive that ever his mind 
yielded to — self-interest. He understood 
the human character well enough to know, that 
if he could, by a sudden and unexpected stroke, 
relieve the country from its embarrassments, 
his countrymen would applaud him, though the 
measure itself should be nothing more than an 
5ict of plain and common justice. But one 
thing more would be necessary, according to the 
general scheme of his policy, and that was so to 
manage tlie transaction, as that its issue should 
leave the administration in possession of their 
most powerful machine — hatred of Great Bri- 
tain. This result would be perfecdy secure, if 
the rupture which should eventually take place, 
could, with tolerable plausibility, be charged to 
the account of Great Britain. These consider- 
ations entirely satisfy my mind, that the rejec- 
tion on the part of that government, was not an 
unexpected, nor an unpalatable event. 

The consequences of that rejection were pre- 
cisely what I have stated. The Non- Inter- 
course was reinstated, and the public resentment 
roused by every inflammatory artifice in the 
power of the cabinet. 

Mr. Carey, however, not only considers thi» 
arrangement as highly honourable to Mr. Madi- 
son, but as proving *' the utter falsehood of the 



53 

charge of French influence,'' agamst him, 
** Had there been," says he, " the shghtest 
particle of that noxious influence in our cabinet, 
it could not have failed to prevent such a rapid 
movement as healing the long, endt^ ring and can- 
kered breaches between the two countries ^ in 
two dat/s.^^ If my view of the subject is cor- 
rect, it is difficult to discern what conclusion 
can be drawn in favour of the administration, as 
it respects this charge, from the mere speed 
with which the adjustment took place. But it 
would be much more natural to conclude, even 
if I am mistaken with respect to Mr. Madison's 
views and designs, to infer, that he was stimu- 
lated to a rapid negociation, for fear the French 
Minister, who always watched his measures 
with close attention, should discover what was 
going on, and modestly attem'pt to interfere and 
prevent it. This, however, may all be laid out 
of the question. The negociation was huf^ied, 
and the business closed as speedily as possible, for 
the express purpose of having the intelligence 
of the adjustment sent to the State of JVew- 
York^in season for the then approaching election. 
The correspondence began on the 17th, and 
closed on the 19th, and the proclamation was is- 
sued on the day last mentioned. No instance 
of equal diplomatic dexterity, it is firmly be- 
lieved, can be produced since the Jefferson era 
commenced. Two letters were written on each 
day, and oq the last, the proclamation was sui 

E 2 



54 

per-added. The election in die Strate of New- 
York takes place on the last Tuesday in April. 
The last Tuesday of April, in that year, was 
the 25th day — leaving for the transmission of 
the intelHgence only six days. The fact of the 
arrangement having taken place, was forwarded 
to New- York by express ; it was published by 
the democrats with great exultation in Albany, 
as early as the 24th, and before the three days 
of the election were over, it was, no doubt, scat- 
tered through the state. Whether the mometi- 
tary excitement which it occasioned, produced 
any considerable effect in favour of the adminis- 
tration-party is not known. That the negocia- 
tion was hurried through, and the arrangement 
suddenly concluded, for the purpose of operat- 
ing on the New-York election, I have evidence 
of \ kind completely satisfactory, and derived 
from an authentic source. 

The conduct of the British government, in 
rejecting this arrangement, was stigmatized by 
our democrats, by every foul term of oppro- 
brium and reproach. Mr. Carey mildly says of 
it, — *' that England broke the faith her Minister 
had so solemnly pledged.'^ In order to prove 
this assertion, among other things, he runs into a 
long examination of the character of the arrange* 
ment for justice and fairness. This is a trick 
very common with the party, derived imme- 
diately from the instructions of their leaders. 
Our democratic administrations have always 



BS 

considered diemselves able to teach the Britisii 
government, not only what belonged to their 
duty, but to their interest. This arrangement 
was rejected by them, without regard to its me- 
rits, and solely on the ground that Mr. Erskine 
had transgressed his mstructions. They, pro- 
bably, did not choose to establish a precedent 
of the sort. Whatever their reasons might have 
been, it having been entered into without author- 
ity on the part of their Minister, they were under 
no obligation to ratify it. And, surely, our ad- 
ministration, if they did not consider themselves 
licensed to prescribe rules for that government, 
which they did not see fit to adopt for the regu- 
lation of their own conduct, of all men had the 
least cause for complaint, for in a case exactly 
parallel, they had conducted in a manner at 
least as supercilious. I allude to the refusal of 
Mr. JeiFerson, not only to ratify, but even to 
consult the Senate, on the merits of the treaty 
entered into with Great Britain, by Messrs. 
Munroe and Pinkney. Those Ministers thought 
proper to step aside of their instructions, and 
Mr. Jefferson contemptuously refused even to 
suffer his constitutional advisers, to deliberate 
on its character. 

The refusal of the British government to ra- 
tify the arrangement, brought this country back 
to the ^Restrictive system^^'' a second proclama- 
tion having been issued by the President, re- 
instating the Non- Intercourse, and placing the 



56 

countries upon the same footing on which they 
stood before the 19th of April, 1809. 

Upon dismissing the subject of the Erskine 
arrangement, Mr. Carey sets liimself at work 
to prepare his readers for a complete vindication 
of the war, by introducing, as the principal cause 
of it, a full length picture of Impressment, with 
all its deformities of limb and feature. It is not 
my intention to pass over that important subject, 
as a ground of war, I shall, however, take the 
liberty to postpone the consideration of it for a 
short time, for the purpose of following the tract 
of the administration in their progress towards 
war. This is indispensibly requisite, because 
it is necessar>^ to understand the true character of 
the war, before a just estimate can be made of 
the conduct of those who were opposed to its 
declaration. 

The British Orders in Council, the French 
Decrees, and our Non-Intercourse Law, being 
once more all in force, and the times pressing 
hardly upon the administration, it was found of 
great importance to their popularity, that a 
change in some part of our foreign relations 
should be effected. The British government had 
always professed a willingness, and indeed, a 
desire, to rescind their Orders, if Bonaparte 
would first revoke his Decrees; but, as they 
claimed that he was the first aggressor, in this 
particular case, so long as he continued those 
Decrees, and the United States submitted to 



57 

them, so long they would continue and execute 
their Orders. Having failed in procuring the 
British Orders to be rescinded, upon their own 
terras^ the administration next turned their at- 
tention to France, and endeavoured to persuade 
his imperial and roy;^l Majesty, Bonaparte, to 
revoke his Decrees. By the terms of the Non-In- 
tercourse law, under which the proclamation 
of April 19th, 1809, had been issued, the Pre- 
sident was authorized, '* in case either France 
or Great Britain should so revoke or raodify her 
edicts, as that they should cease to violate the 
7ieutral commerce of the United States, to de^ 
dare the same by proclamation'^'* after which the 
trade suspended with either ?iation, in whose fa- 
vour the p7Vclamation should be issued, might be 
renewed. The course of events, in the sum- 
mer of 1809, had produced a good deal of irri- 
tation in the United States, and the adminis- 
tration had directed it, as much as lay in their 
power, against Great Britain. In this state of 
the public mind, towards the close of that year, 
an intrigue commenced on the part of our cabi- 
net, with Bonaparte's Ministers, to draw France 
into a situation in which the Non- Intercourse 
might be suspended, as it respected that nation, 
and in that way to involve us more immediately 
with Great Britain. After a correspondence of a 
very singular character, which lasted for seme 
months, and on the peculiar tenor and character of 
which) I shall hereafter make sopia remarks, on 



58 

the 5th of August, 1810, the Duke of Cadore 
wrote a letter to our Minister at Paris, in the trans- 
lation of which was contained the following pas. 
sage — ** In this new state of things, I am authorize 
ed to declare to j^ou, Sir, that the decrees of Berlin 
and Milan are revoked, and that, after the 1st of 
November, they will cease to have effect ; it he^ 
i?2g understood that, in consequence of this decla- 
ration, the Enghsh shall revoke their Orders in 
Council, and 7'enounce the nexv f)?incif)les o/ block- 
ade wh^ch they have wished to establish; or that 
the United States, conformably to the act you 
have just communicated, shall cause their rights 
to be respected by the English.''' Upon the re- 
ceipt of this false and fraudulent declaration, the 
President issued his proclamation, declaring, in 
terms, that the French Decrees were revoked on 
the Sth of August, 1810, and that they would 
cease to have effect on the \st of November foU 
lowing. This shameless falsehood, although 
proceeding from the highest branch of our gov- 
ernment, and calculated to deceive the people 
of this country on a subject of vital importance to 
their character, and prosperity, though made at 
the time without proof of the existence of the facts 
contained in it, and long since known to have 
been utterly untrue, has never been corrected, or 
even acknowledged by its author to have been in- 
correct. Even the publication at the end of near- 
ly two years thereafter, of an official document 
shewing in the clearest manner its absolute false- 



59 

hood, produced no other effect on the part of the 
man that made it, than lame and crooked efforts 
to estabUsh it, against all the evidence before- 
mentioned. 

The British government were too wise to be 
caught in so obvious a snare as was here set for 
them — they still persisted in requiring an actual 
revocation of the French Decrees, before they 
would consent to rescind their Orders. In this 
irritating situation the affairs between the two 
countries stood, until the 18th day of June, 
1812, when Congress formally declared war a- 
gainst Great Britain. - 

Against that declaration, the federal members 
of both Houses of Congress exerted themselves 
to the utmost, — they voted unanimously against 
it — and after it was passed, the federal mem- 
bers of the House of Representatives, published, 
under their several signatures, a very able and 
unanswerable Remonstrance to the people, a- 
gainst the proceedings of the majority on the 
subject. This masterly paper, Mr. Carey finds 
it convenient barely to mention, and to stigma- 
tize with a few terms of reproach. It was a pru- 
dent course in him. Ignorant as he is, not only 
of the true principles of our constitution, but 
even of the very nature of free government, and 
incapable as he is of elevating his mind, or ex- 
panding his thoughts, above the low passions of 
party, he acted very judiciously in not attempting 
to examine and refute the principles and reason- 



60 

ing contained in that admirable document. It 
is much easier for demagogues, and their tools 
and parasites^ to rouse the base and vulgar passi- 
ons to vengeance, than to understand and discuss, 
great questions of national policy. The first 
object is within the reach of vice, and ambi- 
tion, — the last requires learning, talents, and 

virtue. 

After announcing tke declaration of war, Mr. 
Carey solemly remarks-—" War then became 
the law of the land* It was the paramount duty 
of all good citizens to submit to it. Even those 
who doubted itsjustice or expediency, and who 
had opposed its adoption, were bound to ac- 
quiesce'' — 

We are now brought to the examination of a 
question of no small importance in the affairs of 
this country— < which is — how far atie the 

MINORITY BOUND TO SUBMIT TO THE WILL 

OF THE MAJORITY? From the manner in 
which the author of the Olive. Branch expresses 
himself, on the subject of the War, we might 
naturally infer, that, in his opinion, a law de- 
claring war, was attended with superiour obliga- 
tions to those which accompany a law of a differ- 
ent description — and, that the opposers of the 
war, had refused to submit to the law. 

With respect to actual .submission to the law 
declaring war, the federalists behaved in an ex- 
emplary manner. They were guilty of no riots, 
Kor insurrections. What few disturbances of 



J 



i 73 

United States shoula oe uiawii into collision 
with Great Britain, on the subject of the Order 
of May, 1806. 

By most men, this event could not have been 
brought about, without considerable difficulty. 
When that Order was passed by the British 
government, Mr. Monroe, then our Minister at 
London, really considered it as advantageous, 
rather than injurious, to us. Our government, 
if they did not view it in a similar light, certainly 
did not consider it as a violation of our neutral 
rights^ because they did not, for years, make the 
least complaint of it. On the contrary, it has 
been shewn, that both the President and Con- 

^ gress, in the Erskine arrangement, entirely omit- 
ted to take the least notice of it as a decree that 
came within the provisions of the Non-Inter- 

f course law. How, then, did it happen, at the end 
of six years from the time of its origin, that it 
should have been foisted into the causes of war 
against Great Britain ? This is an important en- 
quiry, and the answer will go far towards ena- 
bling us to form a just estimate of the charac- 
ter of the war. 

The Order of Mai/, 1806, was made a subject 
of controversy between iis and Great Britain, 
by intrigue between our administration and Bo- 
naparte^ for the purpose of involving us with 
Great Britain, On the 25th of January, 1810, 

j^ General Armstrong, then our Minister at? Paris, 



'4 



wrote to Mr. Pinkney, our Minister at London, 
the following letter. 






Paris J Januartj 25, 1810. 
Sir, 

" A letter from Mr. Secretary Smith, of the 
1st of December last, made it my duty to en- 
quire of his excellency the Duke of Cadore, 
what were the conditions on which his Mi\jesty 
the Emperor, would annul his Decree, com- 
monly called the Berlin Decree, and whether if 
Great Britain revoked her blockades^ of a date 
anterior to that Decree, his Majesty would con- 
sent to revoke the said Decree ? To these ques- 
tions, I have this day received the following an- 
swer, which I hasten to convey to you by a spe- 
cial messenger. 

ANSWER. 
' The only condition required for the revoca- 
tion, by his Majesty the Emperor^ of the De- 
cree of Berlin, will be a previous revocation by 
the British government, of her blockades oj 
France, or parts of France, (such as that from 
the Elbe to Brest ^ ^c.J of a date anterior to that 
of the aforesaid Decree, ' 

*' I have the honour to be, &c. 

'' JOHN ARMSTRONG." 

On the 2d of July, 1810, the Secretary of 
State wrote a letter to Mr. Pinkney, from which 
the following passage is extracted. 



iO 



'' Whilst it was not known, on the one hand, 
how far the French government would adhere to 
the apparent import of the condition, as first 
communicated, on which the Berlin Decree 
would be revoked ; and on the other hand, what 
explanations would be given by the British go\'- 
crnment with respect to its blockades prior to 
tliat Decree, the course deemed proper to be 
taken, was that pointed out in my letter to you, 
of the 11th of November, and in that to Gen- 
eral Armstrong, of the 1st of December. T/ie 
precise and formal declaration since made by the 
French governfnent, that the condition was limit- 
ed to the blockades of France, or parts of 
France, of a date prior to the date of the Ber- 
lin Decree, and of the acknowledgment by the 
British governmeiit of the existence of such 
blockades, particulary that of May, 1806, with 
a failure to revoke it, or even to admit the con- 
structive extinguishment of it, held out in your 
letter to the Marquis Wellesley, give to tlie sub- 
ject a nev/ aspect and a decided character." 

It is a little remarkable, that the letters of the 
11th of November, and of the 1st of Decem- 
ber, mentioned in General Armstrong's letter of 
the 25th of January above recited, are not to be 
found in any of the collections of state papers 
that I have seen. The passage quoted from the 
letter of the 1st of December, in the letter of 
January 25th, is, however, sufficient for the pre- 
sent purpose- It proves distinctly— that Bona- 



76 

parte was instigated to demand the repeal of the 
British Order of May, 1806, by Mr. Madison 
himseh^. He was not contented with barely en- 
quiring of the French Minister, on what terras 
his Majesty would consent to repeal the Berlin 
Decree — -he was not satisfied with leaving him 
to fix his own conditions — but, after asking the 
general question, viz. " what were the condi- 
tions on which his Majesty the Emperor, v;ould 
annul his decree commonly called the Berlin 
Decree," he goes on to add a more particular 
enquiry — " 7vhether. if Gi'eat Britain revokes 
her blockades^ of a date anterior to that Decree^ 
his Majesty would consent to revoke the said 
Decree f"' It is not to be wondered at, that he 
should be informed, in reply — that *' the only 
condition required for the revocation of llie De- 
cree of Berlin, would be, a previous revocation 
by the British government of her blockades of 
France, or part of France, (such as that from the 
Elbe to Brest) of a date anterior to the aforesaid 
Decree." It v/ ill be observed, that the object 
all along, in this disgraceful affair was^ to give 
Bonaparte the advantage of the argument deriv- 
ed from the priority of the date of this Decree 
of May, 1806, to that of the Berlin Decree, 
w'nich was the 21st of November, 1806. If 
Great Britain could have been induced by Mr. 
Madison, to have revoked the Decree of May, 
on any ground^ it would have been considered 
]:>y Bonaparte as an implied acknowledgment, 



il 



77 

tliat the pretence of the Order of January, 
1807, had been issued by way of retaliation, 
was without foundation. But, here, the claim 
for the revocation of the Order of May, > was 
made, from time to time, on the very ground 
that it was " anterior ^^"^ in date to that of the 
Berlin Decree, of course, the acknowledgment 
would have been explicit. 

A more insidious, and, in its design and con- 
sequences, a more wicked attempt has rarely 
been made by any ruler, than this. When this 
Order was first passed, Mr. Monroe wrote home 
to the administration an account of it, in a letter 
dated the 17th of May, only one day after the 
date of the Order, in which, he enclosed the 
Order itself, and about which, he says — " the 
note is couched in terms of restraint, and pro- 
fesses to extend the blockade further than was 
heretofore done ; nevertheless it takes it from 
many ports already blockaded^ indeed from all 
east of Ostend, and west of the Seine, except 
in articles contraband of war, and enemies' prop- 
erty, which are seizable without a blockade. 
And in like form of exception, considering 
every enemy as one power, it admits the trade 
of neutrals^ within the same limits to be free, in 
the productions of enemies colonies, in any but 
the direct route between the colony and the pa- 
rent country, I have, however, been too short 
a time in the possession of this paper, to trace it 
in all its consequences in regard to this question. 

g2 



78 

// cannot be doubted^ that the note was drawn 
by the government in reference to the question^ 
and if intended by the cabinet as a foundation on 
which Mr. Fox is authorized to form a treaty^ 
and obtained by him for the purpose^ it must be 
viewed in a very favourable light, '^^ On the 
20th of May, 1806, three days afterwards, Mr. 
Monroe wrote agam, on the same subject, in 
the following words — " from what I could col- 
lect, I have been sti-engthened in the opinion 
which I communicated to you in my last, that 
Mr. Fox's note of the 16th, was drawn with a 
view to a principal question with the United 
States, I mean that of the trade with tlie ene- 
mies' colonies. It embraces, it is true, other 
objects, particularly the commerce with Prussia, 
and the north generally, whose ports it opens to 
neutral powers, under whose flag British mraiu- 
factures, will find a market there. In this par- 
ticular^ especially^ the measure promises to be 
highly satisfactory to the commercial interest^ 
and it may have been the primary object of the 
government?'* Such were the views entertained 
by our Minister at London, of the Order of 
May, 1806, at the time it was issued — and such 
it may be safely concluded, were the views 
which the administration entertained of it at the 
same period, and for a long time thereafter, be- 
cause it was not complained of for years after 
this time. And, yet, in 1812, after the solemn 
declaration of himself and of Congress, in the 



79 

transaction with Mr. Erskinc, that this Order 
was not one of the Decrees which violated our 
neutral commerce, this same Order is shame- 
lessly l^rought before the world as a justifiable 
cause of war. No other head of a nation, than 
one taken from the Jeffersonian school, could 
have been induced to pursue such a course of 
conduct as this. 

But it was pursued by Mr. Madison, with a 
clear view of its consequences. In a letter from 
the Secretary of State to Mr. Pinkney, dated 
July 5th, 1810, there is the following passage. — 
" Without this enlightened precaution, it it pro- 
bable, and may indeed be inferred from the letter 
of the Duke of Cadore to General Armstrong, 

THAT THE FrENCH GOVERNMENT WILL 

DRAW Great Britain and the United 
States to issue, on the legality of 
SUCH blockades, by acceding to the act of 
Congress, 7vith a condition^ that a repeal of the 
blockades shall accompany a repeal of the Or- 
ders in Council, alleging, that the Orders and 
Blockades, differing little, if at all, otherwise 
than in name, a repeal of the former leaving in 
operation the latter, would be a mere illusion." 
From this passage, it is perfectly clear, that Mr. 
Madison foresaw that Great Britain and the 
United States would be drawn to issue by the 
French government, on the legality of such 
blockades. What vile hypocrisy is contained in 
the above sentence of the letter referred to ! It 



80 

was, indeed, probable that such would be the 
state of diings when such an issue was, above 
all other things, desired by Bonaparte, and 
courted by Mr. Madison ! And, especially, 
when the latter had gone to such lengths to se- 
cure that probability, as to incite the former to 
place the subject on that very issue. 

One other cause of war, as stated in the mani- 
festo of our government, remains to be noticed, 
viz. Impressment, I have already remarked, 
that Impressment became, by the repeal of the 
British Orders, a few days after the declaration 
of war, the only ground of hostilities. When the 
contest was left on that single ground, every pos- 
sible effort was used by the administration, and by 
their dependents, to inflame the public passions 
on this subject. It becomes necessary, there- 
fore, to examine a little into its true character, 
as a cause of war, that we may be able to de- 
termine whether it was, in reality, what the 
government pretended to make it, the real 
justifiable cause of the calamities which it pro- 
duced. 

Impressment, on the 18th of June, 1812, was 
not a new affair — it had been the source of diffi- 
culty between us and Great Britain, ever since 
the formation of our government. Various at- 
tempts to negociate concerning it had been 
made, but no satisfactory arrangement had ever 
been concluded. But I assert^ that it had not 
been considered as a justifiable cause of -war. 



81 

even by the democratic administration^ until near 
the time when the war was declared, and was 
then brought into the list of grievances merely 
to swell the catalogue, I draw this inference 
from two sources — first from the manner in 
which it had been previously treated by them — 
and secondly, from their conduct at the close of 
th.e contest. 

At the time of the Erskine arrangement, it 
was not even mentioned. Our government, 
had that arrangement been confirmed by Great 
Britain, could never have made it, even if con- 
tinued as it had been before that time prac- 
tised, a valid cause of war ; because it was not 
alluded to, even as a grievance, in the cor- 
respondence previously to that arrangemient, and 
as the agreem.ent to repeal the Orders in Council 
of January and November, 1807. was consider- 
ed as removing the only ground of the suspen- 
sion of intercourse between the nations. 

In April, 1808, the last year of Mr. Jeffer- 
son's Presidency, Mr. Madison, then Secreta- 
ry of State, and presumptive heir to the chief 
magistracy, wrote a letter to Mr. Pinkney, our 
Minister at London, from which the following 
passage is taken — "In the present state of our 
relations to Great Britain, it would be premature 
to mark out the course to be pursued with re- 
spect to further negociations on other topics than 
those above noticed. You are authorized, how- 
ever, to continue your interpositions in behalf 



82 

of our impressed or detained seamen ; and in the 
event of a repeal of the British Orders, and of 
satisfactory pledges for repairing the aggression 
on the Chesapeake, to enter into informal ar- 
rangements for abolishing impressments alto- 
gether, and mutually discontinuing to receive the 
seaw.en of each other into either military or mer- 
chant service, conformably to the instructions on 
this point transmitted by Mr. Purviance,^^ Those 
instructions were made, be it remembered, af- 
ter Mr. Jefferson had rejected the treaty conclud- 
ed with Great Britain by Messrs. Monroe and 
Pinkney, and just before he was, by the ordina- 
ry course of events, to surrender the reins of go- 
vernment into the hands of his successor. Here 
impressment is treated as '.\ secondary and su- 
bordinate affair, not an object of prime impor- 
tance, like the Orders in Council and the attack 
on the Chesapeake; and the best terms that 
coukl be made, in case those great difficulties 
should be removed, were to be obtained. 

In November of the same year, when the pas- 
sions of the country were highly excited by the 
government against Great Britain, during the 
session of Congress, an inflammatory report was 
made by the Committee of Foreign Relations, in 
which the grievances of this country are detail- 
ed and enfc/iced in a very ^ngry manner. In 
thatrepprt, Impressment is but barely mention- 
ed — it is not discussed at all, or dwelt upon by 
the Committee, but their whole force is directed 



S3 

to the subject of the illegal edicts of the two bel- 
ligerents which violated our neutral commerce — 
adopting exactly the principle contained in the 
Non -Intercourse law, and which afterwards go- 
verned Mr. Madison in his settlement with Mr. 
Erskine. The report above-mentioned, con- 
cluded with the following resolutions, which 
were adopted by Congress. 

"1. Resolved, That the United States cannot, 
withouta sacrifice of their rights, honour and in- 
dependence, submit to the late edicts of Great 
Britain and France, 

"2. Resolved, That it is expedient to prohi- 
bit, by law, the admission into the ports of the 
United States, of all public or private armed or 
unarmed ships or vessels belonging to Great Bri- 
tain or France, or to any other of the belligerent 
powers having in force orders or decrees viola- 
ting the lawful commerce of the United States; 
and also the importation of any goods, wares or 
merchandize, the growth, produce or manufac- 
ture of the dominions of any of the said powers, 
or imported from any place in the possession of 
either. 

" 3. Resolved, That measures ought to be im- 
mediately taken for placing the country in a more 
complete state of defence." 

Now, let it be asked, whether at this time and 
in April following, when the Erskine arrange- 
ment was entered into, Impressment, was, of 
itself, considered as a justifiable cause of war, 



84 

or wais treated by our government as such? It 
will answer no purpose to refer me to the nature 
of the evil, or to the manner in which it had 
been viewed, in the times of the federal adminis- 
trations. That it was a grievance and one of a 
serious character, is not doubted, or denied* 
The question is, did Mr, Jefferson^ and Mr^ 
Madison, in 1808, and 1^09^ consider and treat 
it as a justifiable cause of war — so that, if there 
had been no belligerent edicts in force, they 
•would, on that ground, have led this country inta 
hostilities xvith Great Britain ? To this enquiry 
an explicit and categorical answer is demanded. 
Neither democratic shuffling nor cabinet meta- 
physics, will be received. The truth is, after 
having resolved on war, and fearful that the rea- 
sons on hand would not be deemed sufficient, 
this was dragged in, as was that of the blockade 
of May, 1806, to increase the number, and give 
size and importance to the meagre recital in the 
manifesto. 

And cfrc Christians to be told by a conceited and 
jneddling foreigner, or even by the administrators 
of their government, that a war, undertaken for 
false and feigned reasons, is to be supported by 
them, without any regard to its true character? 
Are conscientious and accountable men to be 
driven by demagogues, parcizans, and a wicked 
cabinet, to adopt, a: their motto, the profligate 
principle contained in a modern fashionable 
toast — may our country in her intercourse with 



85 

other natiom always he successful whether right 
or wro?2g ? The judgments of God would light 

on a nation who should adopt that as its maxim 

and, surely, the individuals who should recom- 
mend or practise such a sentiment, ought to look 
for future tremendous restriction. 

The principles advanced by the friends of the 
late war, would lead this country inevitably to 
despotism. It will always be in the power of 
an administration to involve us widi a foreign 
nation, and plunge us into war. We have, it is 
true, tlie appearance of checks in our constitu- 
tion. But the theory is lost in the practical expo- 
sition of its powers. Patronage, and the revenue, 
enable a bad administration, to corrupt and de- 
stroy all the branches of the government. Mili- 
tary despotism is not more energetic, than the 
power of corruption. There is not a more abso- 
lute sovereign in Europe, than Mr. Jefferson and 
?4r. Madison have been ; and every successor, 
until a change of views in the country shall take 
place, will become more and more so. 

One other circumstance should be taken into 
consideration, when we are forming an estimate 
of the true character and objects of the war. At 
the moment when it was declared, Bonaparte 
was on his way to Russia, with half a million of 
men at his heels, for the purpose of conquering 
that empire, and reducing it to absoljute sub- 
mission to his will. Our declaration against 
Great Britain, was made on the IBth of June — ■ 

H 



86 

his against Russia, on the 22(1 of the same month. 
This coincidence of time, and object, may, in 
the nature of things, have been accidental. I 
have not, however, creduhty enough to believe 
it. I entertain not a doubt that it was concerted, 
and well arranged before^hand. Mr. Madison 
expressed his confident expectation, that France 
would draw us to issue on the legality of block- 
ades, as early as July, 1810. In June, 1812, 
the prediction was verified — and the circum- 
stances attending its fulfilment, completely justify 
the conclusion, that it was done to aid France in 
the trial of that issue. And to shew, beyond 
the possibility of doubt that this was the fact, as 
soon as Bonaparte himself was defeated, and 
destroyed, his empire overthrown, and himself 
driven into exile, this sam.e Mr. Madison, who 
had walked with such a stately stride when he be- 
gan the contest, sneaked out of it with abject 
meanness, abandoned all his pompous claims, 
particularly that of impressment, and made a 
most disgraceful peace, without securing a single 
object of the war, which he had proclaimed. 
This was the second ground of the inference 
which I stated above, that impressment was not 
the real cause of the war. 

1 will now devote a little time to the consider- 
ation of the other principal branch of the sub- 
ject, viz. The Division of the States* The 
foul sin*of intending and attempting, to divide 
the union, has been laid to the door of federal- 



87 

ists, and particularly federalists of the New- 
England states, ever since Mr. JeiTerson taught 
his degraded and obsequious followers, the cardi- 
nal electioneering art of slander. On all great and 
trying occasions, whenever they have a point of 
importance to carry or secure, they commence 
their operations by the most envenomed calum- 
nies against the federalists. No integrity how- 
ever unsullied, no virtue however pure, no patri- 
otism however disinterested, can serve as a 
shield against their diabolical detraction. The 
example was set by the profligate fotindcr of the 
sect. He traduced the integrity that he wou id not 
imitate, and reproached the virtue v. Ii6se sacred 
awe drove him into obscurity. That example 
v,'as contagious, and was faithfully followed by 
every vagabond and scavenger of his party. 
When he approached the period of his second 
election, the hue-and-cry of divlsio?! v/as sound- 
ed throughout the country ; and thus it has in- 
variably happened from that time to this, when 
any measure, dangerous to the peace and pros- 
perity of the country, has been in agitation 
among his disciples and folio v/ers. This calum- 
ny has been propagated and repeated, long 
enough to be substantiated, if it is susceptible of 
substantiation ; and I purpose to call those from 
whom it has proceeded before the public to per- 
form the task. 

The author of the *' Olive-Branch," devotes 
i a large share of his labour, to the subject of di- 



88 

vision, and he vents a large portion of his ran- 
cour on that subject, against the town of Boston, 
in the State of Massachusetts. '' Boston," 
says he, *' the metropolis of Massacliusetts, has 
been for a long period, and more particularly 
since the close of the reign of federalism, the 
scat of discontent, complaint, and turbulence. 
She lias been herself restless and uneasy — and 
she has spread restlessness and uneasiness in 
every- direction. She has thwarted, harassed, 
and embarrassed the general government, incom- 
parably, more tlian all the rest of the union to- 
gether.*' This is paying a high compliment to 
the talents, frrmness, and independence, of that 
high, spirited and patriotic town. I hope it de- 
serves it. Boston was the first spot where re- 
sistance to British dominion made its appear- 
ance — I trust it will be the last to submit to de- 
mocratic tyranny and usurpation. 

This f>3reign patriot, however, is writing very 
flippantly here, on a subject about whjlch, as on 
many others, he is grossly ignorant. His know- 
ledge of Boston, and New-England generally, 
is derived almost exclusively from democratic 
news-papers, and the floating trash of the party, 
without any real insight into the policy, or charac- 
ter, or views, of the intelligent, independent, 
and freeborn race of men, who inhabit that 
portion of the United States. 

'' The project of separation,' ' says Mr. Ca- 
rey, '* was formed shiortly after the adoption of i 



89 

the federal constitution." And to prove this 
round assertion, he appeals to the ^\ct, that some 
essays were published, in the year 1796, in a 
Connecticut news-paper ! ! ! Aware that a mere 
anonymous newspaper production, would 
hardly be admitted as evidence of a settled plot, 
in a large portion of country, to divide the union, 
he very gravely, and with the same kind of air 
that he would have made use of if he had 
been uttering the truth, on a subject of vast im- 
, portance, says — that the essays alluded to, were 
*' the joint production of an association of men 
of the first talents in the state." If Mr. Carey 
had ascertained this fact, why did not he publish 
the names of these conspirators against the integ» 
rity of the union ? If he had discovered that 
the pieces signed '^ Pelham," were " the joint 
production of- an association of men of the first 
talents in the state" of Connecticut, he could 
not but have found out, at least, who some of 
them were. The truth, however, beyond a 
doubt, is, that he made the Assertion without 
knowing any thing about it. It is very fashion- 
able among the democratic politicians, to pick 
up some solitary remark of some solitary indi- 
vidual of the federal party, or some detached 
passage in a pamphlet, or a sentence or para ^ 
graph in a newspaper, which, by a process pe- 
culiar to themselves, they can make subserve 
their own purposes, and then charge it upon tht; 
whole party — ninety-nine hundredths of v^hom, 

11 2 



90 

probably, never sav/ or heard of the thing before, 
Mr. Ccire}^ has quoted two short passages from 
what he calls, '' a most elaborate set of papers 
under the signature of Pelham," to prove his 
assertion, that " the project of separation was 
forrrvcd shortly after the adoption of the federal 
constitution." The passages quoted prove no 
such thing. They do go to shew, that, in the 
writer's opinion, whoever he was, the political 
views of the southern states, and particularly 
the habit and effects of slavery which were so 
lirmly established there, were so incompatible 
with the genuine principles of the national consti- 
tution, that it was not probable they could both 
exist together ; and that the northern states, had 
better part with the southern, than with their gov- 
ernment. " It cannot be contested,'* says Pel. 
ham, in one of the very passages quoted by Mr, 
Carey, '^thatifthe southern states were possessed 
of the same political ideas, an union would still 
be more desirable than a separation. But when 
it becomes a serious qtiestioih whether we shall 
give up our government^ or part with the states 
south of the Potomac^ no man north of that 
river, whose heart is not thoroughly democratic, 
can hesitate what decision to make." The wri- 
ter then goes on, in the same quotation, to state 
the plan of his work,.by saying, " I shall in the 
future papers consider some of the great events 
Vr'hich will lead to a separation of the United 
States ; show the importance of retaining their 



91 

present constitution, even at the expense of a 
separation^- &c. The author of the *' Olive- 
Branch," with an habitual dullness and stupidity 
which appears to be constitutional, and for which 
he is therefore not answerable, calls this a 
'* project of separation," merely because Pel- 
ham was fearful the event must at one day or 
another be encountered, to prevent a greater 
evil. Pelham expressly says, that ** if the 
southern states possessed the same political 
ideas [as the northern], an union would still be 
more desirable than a separationJ^"^ And the ob- 
ject of the essayist appears to be, at all hazards, 
even at the hazard of a separation, to preserve 
the constitution of the United States. No man 
but a blind partizan, could have discovered a 
project to divide the union, in the language of 
Pelham, so far as it is cited in the '* Olive- 
Branch." And we are to suppose, that Mr. 
Carey, as he has not published the essays entire, 
has picked out the passages that were the best 
calculated to answer his own purpose. Doubt- 
less if he had favoured his readers with the re- 
mainder of them, they would shew, that the 
writer expected, from an incongruity of senti- 
ment in politics and morals — from the state of 
society, and distinction of ranks in the southern 
states, that the north and the south could scarcely 
be expected to go on peaceably and prosperously 
together, and, therefore, the time would come 
when the north must either part with their neigh- 



92 

hours, or part with their constitution; and, in 
his opinion, the former would be a less evil than 
the latter. I wish it may be the fact, that Pel- 
ham's fears on this subject were without foun- 
dation ; but if he be still alive, I am very sus- 
picious that those fears have been strengthened 
and confirmed by the events which have passed 
since he wrote and published his numbers. 

Without pursuing these remarks on the pas- 
sages of Pelham's essays quoted in the "Olive- 
Branch," I maintain the position — that the re- 
marks of any individual, either in words or in 
writix-ig, are not to be charged upon the whole 
community, or any large portion of the commu- 
nity, without some evidence of their having as- 
sented to or adopted them, as their own. Mere 
news-paper speculations by a news-paper wri- 
ter, on any given subject, do not prove a project 
or a plot in a large portion of country, to carry 
into effect the ideas he may suggest. Besides, 
Pelham, as far as he is quoted, does not propose 
any measures to bring about a division of the 
union — he o^.ly suggests his fears, th^t the prin- 
ciples and politics of the south, may, in the end, 
produce such an event; an event, however, tlrat 
he strongly deprecates, and would only resort to 
in the \sist GxtrQmity— for the preservation of the 
constitution. 

I do also contend, that, under our constitu- 
tion, a man may promulge the idea of separa- 
tion, without being guilty of political or *' mor- 



93 

al treason." And if the states east and north of 
the Potomac, should ever become convinced 
that it would be for their general interest to di- 
vide the union, making that river the boundary 
line, it is not only within their power, but it 
would be perfectly proper for them, so to do. 
Strange, iiideed, would it be, if this were not 
the case. The principle is not oaly founded in 
common sense, but it is constitutional. The 
majority of the people in this country, have 
the riglit, as well as the power, to change the 
form of their government whenever they please. 
Surely, men who believe in the democratic doc- 
trine of " the holy right of insurrection,'' can- 
not deny the principle which I have advanced. 

Having thus dismissed the notion of news- 
pa/?(?/* ^rm^ow against the union, I do in the 

MOST PEREMPTORY MANNER, AND IN THE 
?,10ST UNEQUIVOCAL TERMS, DENY, THAT 
ANY PROJECT HAS BEEN FORMED, AT ANY 
T'IME, OR THAT ANY MEASURES HAVE 
BEEN TAKEN BY ANY BODY OF MEN, IN 

THE New-England states, to bring 

ABOUT a separation OF THE STATES— 

and, Mr. Carey is challenged to produce any 
evidence to support the ground he has taken on 

this subject. 

I am aware, that the author of the ''Olive- 
Branch," as w^ell as a great many other noisy 
demagogues, have an unfailing refuge, when 



94 

pressed thus closely on this subject. They in- 
variably resort to two sources of evidence :— ^ 

1. The conduct of the New-England Gover. 
nors on the subject of the militia, during the 
late war — 

2. The Hartford Convention, 
On both these subjects, 1 am perfectly willing | 

to meet them, and lest they should hesitate in ' 
accepting the challenge, I will furnish them 
witli arguments to aid them in coming to a con- 
elusion. 

In order to ascertain the correctness or incor- 
rectness of the course of conduct pursued by 
the New-England states, on the subject of the 
mifitia, it will be expedient to attend for a mo- 
ment to the true genius and character of our 
national government. 

The people of this country are differently sit- 
uated from those of all others with respect to 
their governments. PTe have two sorts of gov- 
ernmerit operating at the same time. Every 
state, has its own separate and individual con» 
stitution and form of government— and the con. 
stitution of the United States spreads over tlie 
whole. The states are free independent sover. 
eignties, and before the formation and adoption 
of the constitution of the United States, were in 
fact distinct nations. I speak without reference 
to the articles of confederation, for the sake of 
simplifjring the argument ;— though it is well 
known, that the remark is substantially true in 



95 

fact, because the confederation had almost en- 
tirely ceased to control the affairs of the coun- 
try, at the time of the convention, in 1787. 
The governments of the states, formed, for their 
ov/n purposes, complete systems, each possess- 
ing all the qualities and attributes necessary or 
enjoj^ed, by any nation whatever. The national 
constitution was formed, because the states 
singly were weak, and unable to defend them- 
selves against the violence of stronger nations — 
not on account of any deficiency in the state 
governments. 

The United States government is a federal, or 
I confederated government. It is formed by com- 
pact between the several states. All its powers 
are contained in the constitution. They are 
j clearly defined — the terms of that instrument 
are plain, precise, and explicit — there is no 
room for mistake with respect to the extent of 
the powers conveyed by the states to the nation ; 
of course, every instance in which the authority 
granted is exceeded by the national government, 
I it must be done designedly and wilfully. As 
little room is there for extending the powers of 
the national government by construction. Every 
instance of this sort, is usurpation. It is in vain 
to plead necessity. Whatever the exigencies of 
the national government may be, they are bound 
to confine themselves strictly within the limits 
I of the constitution, because, if they once are 
suffered to transgress the boundary line, they 



I 



i 



96 

may, with the same propriety range over the 
whole circuit of the state sovereignties. No j 
danger can be an apology for a violation of the 
constitution ; because there can be no danger so 
great to the liberties of the country, as such a 
usurpation of power by its own government. * 
Conquest by a foreign power, is a far lighter 
evil, than would be a conquest by our own gov- 
ernment, because we might treat with the form- 
er, and make some terms short of absolute des- 
potism and slavery ; but the latter, by the fact 
of having succeeded in the usurpation, would 
establish both upon us beyond the hope of re- 
demption. The United States do not possess 
a single power under the constitution, but what 
is clearly and explicitly defined or necessarily 
implied in it. The sweeping clause, as it is 
sometimes called, which grants to Congress the 
powers necessary to carry into effect those be- 
fore granted, does not controvert the principle I 
have laid down. It conveyed no new or addi- 
tional powers, but authorizes Congress to exe- 
cute those already granted. The constitution, 
in short was well described by an enlightened 
member of Congress, at a late session, when h^ 
declared it to be a power of attorney from the 
states to the nation* 

When the constitution was submitted to tho 
states for their adoption, great opposition was 
made to it in several states, and no where was it 
more strenuous than in Virginia, on the ground 



97 

that it granted to the nation what was called by 
the pohticians of the day, the power of the purse 
and the sword — that is, it vested in Congress, 
the pow^er of raising revenue, and of raising and 
supporting armies. This was considered as 
robbing the individual states of the prime attri- 
butes of their sovereignty and independence — 
of their physical and moral means of defence 
and security. In consideration of this surrender 
of power by the states, the nation became obli- 
gated to defend and protect the states. And this 

-is THE GREAT CONTRACT bct WCCU the StatCS 

and the nation ; and the principles of it are sum- 
marily contained in the preamble t6 the consti- 
tution. That preamble is in the following 
words — ** IFe, the people of the United States^ 
in order to form a more perfect union, establish 
justice^ insure domestic tranquillity ^ provide for 
the common defence^ promote the general wel- 
fare^ and secure the blessings of liberty to our- 
selves and our posterity^ do ordain and establish 
this constitution for the United States.^'' The 
great objects here enumerated are, to " provide 
for the common defence^''^ and, to ''^ promote the 
general welfare.^^ For the strict and faithful 
performance of them, the United States became 
bound by the most solemn obligations, by the 
adoption of the constitution. Indeed, without 
the certainty that they would be thus performed, 
the states could have had no inducement to part 
tvith any of the rights of sovereignty and inde- 

I 



08 

pendcnce which they so fully possessed. Sup- 
pose for a moment, that the United States should 
fail to ** provide for the common defence ?" 
The constitution would be virtually dissolved, 
because the states would be left to their own 
force for their own defence, and at the same time 
would have been defrauded of the necessary 
means to be used for that purpose. *' Provid- 
ing for the common defence," and ** the promo- 
tion of the general welfare," were, therefore, the 
prime objects in establishing the national gov- 
ernment. The other members of the preamble 
depend essentially upon these. For those pur- 
poses more than any other, is the union desira- 
ble. Justice was already established in the 
states — and domestic tranquillity would almost 
necessarily follow, and the blessings of liberty be 
secured, if the two grcat objects above-men- 
tioned, were faithfully accomplished. 

The principles of the national government be- 
ing thus derived entirely from the individual 
states, and by their written grant, it is perfectly 
apparent, that the state governments are of vast- 
ly greater intrinsic importance, than that of the 
United States. All the powers not granted to 
the United States, are, of course, reserved to 
the states. A clause to this effect has been add- 
ed to the constitution. This must have been 
done through abundant caution, because it 
would as necessarily follow, as that any portion 
of a man's estate, which he has not transferred 



99 

to anotlier, remains to him. The state govern <• 
ments, therefore, regulate all the conimon af- 
fairs of society. They furnish us all the securi- 
ty we possess for our lives or reputations, and 
our estates. All the laws concerning property, 
titles to real estates, the principles of contracts, 
and the punishments of crimes and misdemean- 
ors, depend altogether on the government of 
the states. If the people oi the states were sud- 
denly to be deprived of their state governmentSj 
absolute anarchy and confusion would ensue. 
No man's life would be secure, no man's prop^ 
erty would be safe, no crime could be punished, 
no debt could be collected — in short, all the ma- 
chinery of the social state would be destroyed, 
and the community would revert to a state of 
nature. The government of the United States 
might be destroyed, and, yet, the people in the 
states, under their own governments, would be 
tranquil and secure. But if the state govern- 
mcnts were once overthrown, all the evils which 
.1 have enumerated would inevitably ensue. 

Loyalty, in its genuine sense, is therefore pri-. 
marily due from the people to the state govern- 
ments, and only secondarily to the government 
of the United States. The national government 
is a government of states, formed by a cor.feder- 
ation only,, and if it should be dissolved the 
powers which it possesses would revert to the 
states, and would be held by them as sovereign 
and independent,, until they should be once 



100 

niore granted away to a ntw national govern- 
ment. 

I have given this general view of the character 
and relative merits of the state and national gov- 
ernments, for the purpose of correcting a very 
mistaken notion, which appears to be enter- 
tained by many persons, at the present time, 
that the first place in the esteem and respect of 
the people, is due to the national government. 
Nothing is more unfounded than this idea, nor 
can one easily be imagined of a more dangerous 
character, as I purpose to shew, by the leave of 
Providence, before I finish this discussion. 
And here I would remark, that the greatest dan- 
ger to which the people of this country are ex- 
posed, at the present time, is, that the govern- 
ment of the United States will be so managed 

s to produce a consolidation of the 

SI ATE GOVERNMENTS. 

As the relative importance of the State gov- 
ernments has greatly diminished within a fev/ 
years in the view of that numerous part of the 
community who live upon the emoluments of 
the national government, and the latter has risen 
in value wdth them in the same proportion, it 
may be well to adduce other opinions beside 
my own on this subject. Mr. Jefferson, in his 
first inaugural speech, made use of the following 
language, when running over the items of his 
political creed—" The support of the state gov- 
ernments in all their rights^ as the most compe- 



tent administrations for our domestic concerns^ 
and the purest bulwark against anti-republican 
tendencies.^'' In his first message to Congress 
in December, 1801, he says- — '* When we con- 
sider that this government is charged with the 
external and mutual relations only of these sates ^ 
that the states themselves have the principal 
care of our persons-, our property^ and our repu- 
tation; constituting the great field of human con- 
cernsy xue may well doubt whether our organiza^ 
tion is not too co?nplicated, too expensive, ivheth- 
er offices and officers hav-e not been multiplied un- 
necessarily, and sometimes injuriously to the ser- 
vice they meant to promateJ^'^ 

The fear that the national government would 
overpower the state governments, either by force, 
or by gradual encroachments, and produce a 
consolidation, v/as extreme in many parts of the 
country, when the coubtitution was under dis- 
cussion in the state conventions. " We are des- 
cended from a people,'' said the eloquent Pat- 
rick Henry, in the Virginia convention, "whose 
government was founded on liberty : our glori- 
ous forefathers of Great Britain, made liberty 
the foundation of every thing. That country is 
become a great, mighty, and splendid nation ; 
not because their government is en^ergetic, but 
because liberty is its direct end and foundation. 
We drew the spirit of liberty from our British- 
ancestors : by that spirit we have triumphs 
over every difficulty. But now^ the American 

I 2 



102 

spitity assisted by the ropes andcha'uis of consol- 
idation is about to convert this country into a 
powc?'ful and nvghty empire : if you vnike the 
citizens cfths country agree to become the sub- 
jects of one great consolidated empire of America^ 
your government will not have sufficient energy 
to keep them together : such a government is 
incompatible with the gefiius of republicanism ? 
Again — ^\1 number of characters of the greatest 
eminence in this country, object to this govern- 
■merit, for its consolidating tendency *> This is not 
imaginary. It is a formidable reality. If con- 
solidation proves to be as mischievous to this 
country, as it has been to other countries, what 
will the poor inhabitants of this country do? 
This government will operate like an ambuscade. 
It will destroy the state governments, and swal- 
low the liberties of the people, without giving 
them previous notice,''^ And again — ' 'Congress 
by thepo^vcr of taxation — by that of raising an ar- 
my, and by their control over the militia, haveths 
sword in one hand, and tlie purse in the other. 
Shall we be safe without either ? Congress have 
an unlimited power over both : they are entirely 
given up by us. Let him tell me, where and 
when did freedom exist, when the sword and 
purse were given up from die people. Unless 
a miracle in human affairs interposed, no nation 
ever retained its liberty after the loss of the sword 
and purse." Quotations from the \'irginia de- 
bates might be made, to tiie samcpyrport, aL 



163 

most without number. The above, however, 
cprriinj? as they do from that state, and frrjni 
their boasted Statesman and orator, will be suf- 
fieient for my purpose. 

The great source of this fear, which was by 
no means confmtd to Virginia, lay in the posi- 
tive grant to the nation of the power of the purse 
and the sword, and iiVdie general clause by which 
Congressare impowcred " to make alllaws which 
shall be necessary and proper for carrying into ef- 
fect the foregoing powers, and all other powers 
vested l)y theconstitutionin tkc government of the 
United States, or in any department thereof." It 
was easy to foresee, that, in the hands of a corrupt 
administration, popularity would be bought by 
the aid of the revenue, and in those of a bold and 
daring one, ourlii^erties might be overthrown by a 
standing army. At that time, however, the na- 
tional government was an object of suspicion Jeal- 
ousy, and fear. It was known only in theory, 
-and men, leaving had no opportunity to taste the 
sweets of office, or to drink the poisonous draught 
of power, looked with supreme affection and 
reverence to the state governments as the sources 
of their peace, security, and happiness. Whilst 
the national government was administered within 
its constitutional limits, and with a single eye to 
the general good, by pure, disinterested, and 
virtuous patriots and statesmen, both the state 
and national governments were estimated accor- 
ding to their true character and value. But 



104 

when Mr. Jefferson came into office, a new era 
in our affairs commenced — it was the era 
OF CORRUPTION. Comiption that crcptthrougli 
every important department of the government, 
as well as through all its subordinate ramifica- 
tions of office, and, in a short period, the whole | 
mass became contaminated. Offices were dis- 
tributed as the consideration, or the reward, of 
blind and unprincipled devotion to executive 
ambition ; the most faithful and meritorious ser- 
vants of the public Vv^ere rudely and contempt- 
uously thrown out of employment, and many 
of them out of bread, merely because they were 
too upright to become tools, sycophants, and 
parasites, and too high-minded to prostitute their 
talents and services to the purposes of ambition. 
Even the constitution itself was altered, shaped, 
and moulded, so as to become a supple instru- 
ment, in the liands of aspiring demagogues, to 
subserve their deep designs against the liberties 
of their country. 

In the pestilential atmosphere which was 
speedily formed around an impure administra- 
tion, every species of political disease was en- 
gendered, and the country at large was affected 
with the contagion. Corruption became an ep. 
idemic, and the govennnent, before it had 
reached the ordinary age of ?nanhood,was bloat- 
ed with the cries and infirmities of extreme 
old age. In this state of things, every office- 
holder, und every office. s(;eker, turned his back 



105 

with a sneer of contempt upon the state govern- 
ments, and looked to that of the nation lor the 
gratification of his avarice, and his ambition. 
Evcrj' effort was made by the administration, 
and by their supporters, to render the state gov- 
ments entirely subservient to the views and pol- 
icy of the national administration; and when it 
was found that a small number of them could 
not be brought by fear, fraud, or force, to sur- 
render their independence, or to sacrifice the 
'highest interests of the people over whom they 
were constituted tlie guardians and protectors^ 
they were loaded with every species of contume- 
ly and reproach, and as far as possible, were de- 
prived of all participation in the benefits of the 
national government and were placed ''''under 
the ban of the empire. ^^ 

Ambitious and unprincipled demagogues, are 
not easily checked in the pursuit of their darl- 
ing object — ABSOLUTE POWER. The affairs 
of the nation were, in a very short time after 
Mr. Jeirerson's accession, managed not only 
without any regard to the common good, but with 
a sole reference to his own, and that of his im- 
mediate supporters, and partizans*. This gene- 
ral scheme of conduct produced a necessity, on 
his part, to obtain an increase of power, because 
the limits of the constitution were too circum- 
scribed to admit of the accomplishment of his 
daring purposes. This power could be gained 



106 

in no modCj but by robbing the state goveni- 
ments. 

The great object with the administration has 
been to secure the physical force of the country. 
After the odius and tyrannical law to enforce tht 
execution of the embargo, was passed, Mr. Jef- 
ferson made an attempt to obtain the command 
of at least a poruon of die militia, to aid him in 
forcing obedience to that act, the provisions of 
which were incompatible with the plainest 
principles of civil liberty. He was arrested m 
his career by the f.rm and dignified stand made 
by the chief magistrate of one of theNew-Eng- 
land States — I allude to the late Governor 
Trumbull of Connecticut. That virtuous and 
excellent man, refused to assist in the execution 
of an unconstitutional, as well as tyrannical meas- 
ure — and President Jefferson suddenly found 
his schemes of ambition and usui^ation, ar- 
rested and frustrated. 

When the war was resolved on, viz. in April, 
1812, a law was passed by Congress, authorize 
ing the detachment of a large body of militia 
for the service of the United States,Ty^«?w any 
one of the exigencies provided for in the consti- 
tution of the United States should occur. That 
provision has already been quoted, and it is — 
*' to execute the laws of the union, suppress in- 
surrection, ajid repel ijivasion,^^ Notice was 
sent to the Governors of the eastern states, in 
good season, of the passing of this law— that is. 



107 

two months before the declaration of war, and 
they were called upon by the Secretary of war, 
to organize, arm, and equip, their several quo- 
tas. Not being able to lay my hand on the doc- 
uments of all the states on this subject, I can- 
not give all the exact dates of the different orders. 
Some days, however, previously to the declaration 
of war, those ma^utrates Were requested by the 
Secretary of war, by order of the President, to 
order into tht service of the United States on 
the requisition of General Dearborn, such part 
of the quota of the militia from their several 
states, detached conformably to the act of April, 
1812, as he might deem necessary for the defence 
of the sea.coast. For the purpose of simplify, 
ing the discussion of this subject, as the cases 
of the three New- England States which refused 
to comply with the requisition are essentially 
alike, I will take up one only. 

On the 22d of June, 1812, General Dearborn 
wrote to Governor Griswold, of Con^cticut, in 
in the following words — 



(C 



Head-qnarters, Boston, June 22d, 1812. 
To his Excellency Gov, Griswold, 
Sir, 

Having received instructions from the Pres- 
ident of the United States, to call on your Ex- 
cellency, for such part of the quota of the militia, 
which was detached from the State of Connecti- 
cut, conformable to the act of Congress, of April 



108 

iOth, 1812, Ihave now the honour of requesting 
your Excellency to order into the service of the 
United States, two companies of Artillery, and 
two companies of Infantry, to be placed under 
the commanding officer at Fort Trumbull, near 
New-London, — and one company of Artillerj^ 
to be stationed at the battery, at the entrance of 
the harbour of New- Haven. Having received 
official information that v/ar has been declared 
by Congress against Great Britain, I shall rely 
with confidei.>ce on the aid and support of your 
Excellency, in giving effect to the measures of 
defence on the sea-coast, which has been con- 
fided to my direction, by the general govern- 
ment; and I shall, at any time, receive with the 
greatest pleasure and readiness, any advice or 
information you may please to communicate. 

" With great respect, &c. 
H. Dearborn. 

Before I attend to the result of this requisition^ 
it will be proper to understand precisely the na- 
ture and extent of it. War was declared, by 
Congress, on the 18th of June, 1812. On the 
22d, this letter was written. The constitution, 
and the law which must necessarily have been 
founded upon it, authorized Congress to make I 
provision for calling out the militia, " to repel 
invasion.''^ No invasion had, c^ this time, hap- 
pened — it is perfectly apparent that none could 
have happened, for the British did not, and could 
not, in the nature of things*, know, that^war was 



109 

declared. All, therefore, that could have been 
true, at this time, was, that the President might 
have apprehended invasion as soon as the British 
should learn that war was declared. Upon a 
moderate calculation, allowing as much expedi- 
tion as could be supposed to be practicable in 
the case, the news must first cross the Atlantic, 
and the orders from the British government, 
must return, which would ordinarily occupy at 
least two months. The order, then, even if con- 
stitutional, was premature. 

The constitution, however, does not author- 
ize the national government to call out the 
militia upon the mere suspicion or expectation 
of a possible invasion. It is to repel invasion — 
not to place the militia in garrisons or in camps, 
to watch for what may never happen. If the 
President can be authorized to call out the 
militia upon the mere pretence that he supposes 
an invasion possible, or even probable, all the 
security which the constitution was intended to 
provide for them, as well as for the states, 
would be completely destroyed, and the states 
would be left disarmed and defenceless. The 
constitution authorizes Congress to make pro- 
vision for calling out the militia to execute the 
lams of the union, and suppress insurrections, 
as well as to repel invasions. Can this power, 
in the two former cases, be exercised, upon the 
mere expectation that the laws will be resisted, 
or that an insurrection may take place ? The 



no 

idea is absurd, and would not be tolerated for a 
moment. Before the power can be exercised, 
the exigency must occur — the laws must have 
been resisted, and that to a degree beyond the 
force of the posse to overcome, or there must 
have taken place an actual insurrection. Isnotthe 
language the same with respect to invasion ? It 
is as much of an absurdity to talk of repelling an 
invasion that has never happened, as it would be 
to enforce laws that had never been resisted, or 
to suppress an insurrection that had ilot oc- 
curred. 

Upon this single point, would the Governors 
of the New- England states have been complete- 
ly justified in withholding their militia. But, 
in the case of the requisition upon Connecticut, 
it appears that there was another, and, if possi- 
ble, a stronger ground for the step which Gov- 
ernor Griswold took. The demand by General 
Dearborn was — -for two companies of artillery^ 
arid two companies of infantry^ to be placed 
under the command of the commanding officer at 
Fort Trumbull^ near Nexv-London^ and one 
company of artillery to be stationed at the bat- 
tery at New- Haven. By the 2d section of the 
2d article of the constitution, it is provided — 
that *' the President shall be commander in 
chief of the army and navy of the United I 
States, and of ^^e militia of the several state s^\ 
when called into the actual service of the Unit- 
ed States,'^'' By the 8th section of the 1st arti- 



ii 



cle, it is provided that " the Congress shall have 
power to provide for the organizing, arming, and 
discipUning the militia, and for governing such 
part of them, as may be employed in the ser- 
vice of the United States, reserving to the states 
respectively, the appointment of the officers, and 
the authority of training the militia, according 
to the discipline prescribed by Congress." 

By the first of the above provisions, it is per- 
fectly apparent, that the President himself can» 
not command the militia, but in one case, and 
that is, when they are in the actual service of the 
United States. The reason of this provision is 
perfectly obvious — there can be but one com- 
mander in chief, and whenever it shall so happen 
that there shall be a military force in the field, 
composed partly of regular troops, and partly of 
militia, and the commander in chief of the reg- 
ular troops — that is the President- — shall be in 
the field also, he, being the highest military offi- 
cer known to the government, shall of course 
take the command, because he cannot be com- 
manded by* jftiy other officer. But there is no 
provision for transferring this command to any 
subordinate officer of the United States troops. 
The President is not authorized to delegate the 
. command — nor can it be done by Congress, 
for the plain and obvious reason, that the con- 
stitution does not furnish them with the power. 
On the contrary, out of the actual service of 
the United States, and when not under the ac- 
tual command of the President, the Governors 



112 

of the states are the commanders in chief of the 
militia of their several states. They have the 
same supremacy of command over the militia 
of their respective states, by the very nature of 
iheir offices, as the President has by the consti- 
tution over the army and navy of the United 
States. 

It is perfectly apparent, that the framers of the 
constitution intended to preserve the militia to 
the states, to which they belonged. Having 
surrendered two of the essential attributes of 
their sovereignty to the nation — viz. the power 
of taxation and raising revenue by other means, 
and the power of raising and supporting ar- 
mies — it was not only reasonable, but indispen- 
sably necessary to their own security, and the 
preservation of their liberties and independence, 
that they should retain the militia. Not having 
surrendered them, it follows necessarily that they 
retain them. There is, however, in the consti- 
tution itself an express recognition of their title. 
It is to be found in the above quotation from 
the 2d section of the 2d article.^ # The Presi- 
dent shall be commander in chief of the army 
and navy of the United States, and of the mill' 
tia of the several states^ when called into the 
actual service of the United States." It is not 
the militia of the United States — but '' the mili- 
tia of the several states,'^'' That this was the 
intention of the convention, and is the true 
meaning and construction of the constitution, 
is confirmed by the provision contained in the 



113 

8th section of the 1st article, above cited. 
" The Congress shall have power to provide 
for organizing, arming, and disciplining the 
militia, and for governing such part of them, as 
may be employed in the service of the United 
States, reserving to the states respectively the 
appointment of the officers, and the aiithorittj of 
traitiing the militia^ according to the disciphne 
prescribed by Congress.'^ All the power that 
Congress or the President can lawfully exercise 
over the militia, is contained in these clauses, 
and lest some attempt might be made to en- 
croach on the state sovereignty in this vital par- 
ticular, the saving clause of reserving to the 
states, respectively, the appointment of the offi- 
cers of the militia, and the training them under 
those officers is inserted. 

But what was the attempt of the President, 
in issuing the order through General Dearborn, 
to Governor Griswold ? It was, in terms, to 
detach a certain portion of the Connecticut mili- 
tia^ order them into the service of the United 
States, place them in garrisons, and put them 
under the command of the United States officers. 
It was, of course, a direct attempt to violate the 
constitution — because that constitution had re- 
served to the states, respectively, the power of 
appointing their own militia officers, and if of 
appointing them, it could have been only for the 
purpose of retaining the militia under their com- 
mand. The reasoning of the Council of Con- 

k2 



114 

iiecticut, in their answer to the questions sub- 
mitted to them by Governor Griswold, on this 
subject, is unanswerable — at least, it remains 
unanswered. *' The requisition of General 
Dearborn, is," say they, *' that five companies, 
which constitute a battalion, be detached, four 
of which are required for the fort of New-Lon- 
don, and one for the fort at New-Haven, to be 
put tinder the command of the officers there sta- 
tioned. The Council do not perceive in the 
constitution or laws of the United States, any 
warrant for thus taking from the officers duly ap- 
pointed by the state, the men under their control 
and thus impairing, and as the case may be, 
eventually destroying the military force of the 
state. Nor do they perceive any law authoriz- 
ing the officers of the army of the United States, 
to detach from a body of drafted militia, now 
organized with constitutional officers, a portion 
of its men, and thus weaken, and, as the case 
may be, annihilate the detachment. They do 
perceive, however, that a compliance with such 
a requisition, might transfer the militia of the 
the respective states into the army of the United 
States ; and that the officers of the militia might 
be left without any command, except in name, 
and that the respective states mJght thus be de- 
prived of the militia which the constitution has 
granted them." There is but a single expression 
in this passage which is objectionable, and that 
is the ^ast member of the last sentence. The 



115 

states are not indebted to the constitution of the 
United States/br the grant of the militia* All 
the power that the United States can claim over 
the militia has been granted to them by the 
states. The power of the states over the mili- 
tia, and their title to them, were complete before 
the constitution was formed. Of course, the 
nation is indebted to the states, and not the states 
to the constitution J for the militia. The proba- 
bility, however, is, that the expression is either 
a misprint, or was inadvertently used. There is 
no reason to believe, that so intelligent and firm 
a body of men as that of which the Council of 
Connecticut was composed, could have in- 
tended, in this transaction, to have made any 
unnecessary concessions to the administration 
of the national government, which was at the 
very moment endeavouring to despoil the state 
to which they belonged, of one of its prime attri- 
butes of sovereignty and independence. 

And who can fail to discern the artifice here 
made use of by the administration of the United 
States government, to overreach the state author- 
ity, and violate the constitution? Five compa- 
nies were called for — five companies make a 
battalion — a battalion is commanded by a ma- 
jor — the officers of' the United States at New- 
London, and New- Haven, were of no higher rank 
than company officers — had the five companies 
been ordered all to one place, a field officer must 
have accompanied them, and, in that case, the 



116 

United States officer could not have taken the 
command — 'they were therefore divided, so that 
a whole battalion should not go to one place, 
and only company officers called for, in order, 
upon their arriving at the different posts, that the 
United States officer under the regulations of the 
national government, should take rank of the 
militia officers of the same grade. A more pal- 
pable attempt to evade the constitutional provi- 
sions on this subject, cannot well be imagined. 
Nothing but a spirit of usurpation could have 
prompted the President to have made it — noth- 
ing but a daring and lawless ambition would 
have ventured upon it. 

It was defeated in three of the New- England 
states, by the firmness, and public spirit of their 
patriotic chief magistrates. The measure gave 
a high degree of satisfaction to the great body of 
the militia in these states. In whatever light 
they viewed the war, they had no disposition to 
be taken from their families, friends, and fire- 
sides, and turned by a sweeping act of tyrannical 
usurpation, into regular soldiers, forced from all 
they held dear, to scenes which they abhorred, 
and subjected to a species of slavery of the most 
abject and debasing kind; and the joy manifest- 
ed at the fact that they were secured against such 
an attempt upon their rights, and liberties was 
lively, and universal. 

The attempt was afterwards renewed, by the 
President, bur with no better success. In the 



117 

case of Connecticut, it appears that he affected to 
consider the refusal, on the part of Governor 
Grisvvold, to rest upon the fact that he had not 
been informed that the United States were in im- 
minent danger of mvasion; and upon the 14th 
of July, following, the Secretary of War wrote 
a letter to Lieutenant-Governor Smith, in answer 
to one from that magistrate of the 2d of the 
same month, which has been already referred to, 
in which the Secretary says, he had been in- 
structed by the President to state, that such 
danger actually did existy and to renew the re- 
quisition before made by General Dearborn. 
He also adds the following very extraordinary 
remark — '* The right of the state to officer the 
militia, is clearly recognized in the requisition 
of General Dearborn." The requisition made 
by General Dearborn is in these words — " I have 
now the honour of requesting your Excellency to 
order into the service of the United States, two 
companies of Artillery, and two companies of 
Infantry, to he placed under the command of the 
commanding officer at Fort Trumbull^ near New- 
London; and one company of Artillery, to be 
stationed at the battery at the entrance of 
the harbour of New- Haven." Whether Mr. 
Secretary Eustis wrote the above letter, or 
whether it was written by the President himself, 
I pretend not to know. There is in it, however, 
a ridiculous air of haughty democratic dignity, 
as awkward as it is misplaced, and a disregard 
of the truth, which strongly bespeaks its origin — 



118 

not from Secretary Eustis, but from his mas- 
ter. Whoever wrote it, wrote a downright false- 
hood, when he made the above remark. The 
requisition demanded the five companies only 
to be placed in the garrisons at New- London, 
and New- Haven, and with respect to the former, 
explicitly to be put under the command of the 
United States officer; and as it regarded the sin- 
gle company at New- Haven, clearly intended 
it to be so, as the closing sentence of the letter 
of the 14th of July, clearly shews. The detach- 
ment, ''says the Secretary," Vv'hen marched to 
the several points assigned them, wdth their prop- 
er officers, appointed conformably to the laws 
of the state, will command, or be commanded, 
according to the rules and articles of war ^ and the 
usages of service,''^ By the 98th article of the 
^' rules and articles of ivar,^^ it is provided, that 
"all officers, serving by commission from the 
authority of any particular state, shall, en all 
detachments, courts-martral, or other duty, 
wlicrein they m.aj^ be employed in conjunction 
with the regular forces of the United States, 
take rank next after all officers of the like grade 
in said regular forces, notvvdthstanding the com- 
missions of such militia or state officers may be 
elder than the commissions of the officers of the 
regular forces of the United States." 

The above passage then means, that the five 
companies should be marched to the two gar- 
risons, and as there v>'ould not be a battalion at 



119 

either place, so there would be no necessity for 
any officer higher than company officers; and as 
these was a United States captain at the Forts, 
they, by virtue of the above rule, would take 
precedence of the militia officers of the same 
rank. This was not only a trick, but it was one 
of the weakest, and most contemptible, that 
was ever attempted to be played off. The 
New-England Governors must have been highly 
distinguished for their want of discernment, if 
they had not seen through it in a moment. 

On the receipt of this letter. Governor 
Grisvv^old again convened the Council, and laid 
the second requisition before them. It met 
with no better success than the former. That 
Board, in their answer, after stating the subject 
referred to them for advice, remark, thiit — **It 
is obvious, that the claim for the services of the 
militia, is made on the ground that war has been 
declared by the Congress of the United States, 
against Great Britain. No place in this state, 
or in the United States, has been particularly 
.designated, as in danger of being invaded. — 
The d nger which exists, is that alone which 
arises from a state of war thus declared; and 
exists throughout the United States, and will 
continue, so long as that war shall last. — The 
militia are required to do ordinary garrison duty 
at the Forts, at New London, and Nev\ -Haven. 
Upon the same principle that the militia may be 
called for to march to those places, and do this duty 



120 

they may be called for to march to any place 
within the United States, to perform the same 
duty, and this from time to time, and at all 
times, during the continuance of the war.'' 

*'Itis believed that the militia of this state 
would be among the first to perform their con- 
stitutional duties, and not among the last to un- 
derstand and judiciously appreciate their con- 
stitutional rights. Should any portion of this 
state be invaded or menaced with invasion by a 
foreign power, the militia would not wait for a 
requisition, but hasten with alacrity to the place 
invaded or threatened, to meet and repel it — 
But if the Congress of the United States has 
seen fit to declare xvar, before they have carried 
into effect another provision of the constitution, 
to raise and .support armies, it does not follow 
that the militia are bound to enter their forts and 
garrisons to perform ordinary garrison duty, and 
wait for an invasion which may never happen. 
Whatever may be the disposition of this state, 
or the militia thereof, to render volinitary ser- 
vices under state authority to carry on the war in 
v^hich this country is unhappilv engaged, it is 
surely important that when demands are m.'de 
by the administration of the government of the 
United States, they should be found strictly 
w^ithin the constitution of the United Sr^^tes, 
and while obedience shall be prompth y'= ^^ed 
to all its reqnirennents, that the consH_t\>^.on 
and sovereignty of this state should not be im- 



121 

paired or encroached upon. — That the powers 
^^ delegated to the United States^ ^ may be exer- 
cised, and the powers ^^ reserved to the states 
respectively'''^ may be retained. And as no in- 
formation has been given, and none is in pos- 
session of this Board, that any part of this state 
is invaded, or that any other danger exists than 
that which arises from a declaration of war made 
by the Congress of the United States against 
Great Britain, and the suggestion that a part of 
her fleet has been on the coast of the United 
States, and as the militia are called for, not to 
repel invasion, but to perform ordinary garrison 
duty, the Council are of opinion that it does not 
consist with " the powers retained" by this state, 
to order its militia into the service of the United 
States, on the requisition of any of the oflficers 
of the United States, in a case not demanded by 
the constitution." 

This result was communicated by Governor 
Griswold to the Secretary of War, in a letter 
dated the 13th of August, 1812, in which that 
eminent Statesn\^n, and dignified Magistrate, 
took notice of the disgraceful letter of the Secre- 
tary to Lieutenant-Governor Smith, of the 14th 
of the preceeding month, in terms which we 
think could not have been easily effaced from 
his minde He, at the same time, expressed his 
full asfient to the sentiments of the Council, and 
entire concurrence in their opinions, 

Before tracing the steps of the President, in 



^ ' 122 

his attempt to obtain an unconstitutional con- 
trol of the militia — the great safe-guards of the 
independence of the states — it may be well, for 
a moment, to examine the question in which he 
and the New- England States were thus at issue. 
The President, through the medium of Gen- 
eral Dearborn, demanded of those states, certain 
portions of their militia, to do garrison ^\x\.y in 
the forts of the United States, under the chief 
command of United States officers, professedly 
for the purpose of repelling invasion — the pre- 
tence for the demand was, that the country was 
engaged in war with Great Britain, who had a 
powerful fleet at command, a part of which 
were actually on our coast, and that therefore, 
there was imminent danger of invasion— .the 
militia, thus ordered, in the state under consid- 
eration, were to be under the command of no 
higher officers than company officers, and when 
marched into the garrisons, were to be under the 
chief command of a United States officer of 
equal rank, who, by the rule above- recited, was 
to take precedence of the militia officers of the 
same rank with himself. The answer to this 
requisition was — by the constitution, Congress 
can authorize a demand for the militia only to 
repel invasion — such a call, cannot be made, 
merely on the ground that invasion is possible, 
or even probable — strictly speaking it must 
either be made, or at least attempted, before it 
can be repelled— the utmost latitude of con- 



I2S 

struction can go no farther than to authorize a 
call when invasion is particularly threatened, 
and even that is questionable — no evidence of 
invasionhavinghappened, it was pretended, none 
of its- having been attempted or threatened, ex. 
isted — the President's declaration that the dan- 
ger of invasion was iniminent, rested altogether 
upon tlie existence of war, and the power of 
Great Britain to invade. This evidence was 
deemed by the Governor and Council of Con- 
necticut as not sufficient to establish the fact, or 
to justify the Presidential infelrence — ^^ and they 
declined a compliance with the demand. 

If on isuch a ground as that assumed by tlie 
President, in the case under consideration, such 
a demaridfcatt'be constitutionally made, the pro- 
vision in that instrument gives to the national 
government a complete and absolute command 
over the militia of the states, and this great bul- 
wark of their liberties and independence, \\\\\ 
compose, in effect, the force on which an ambi- 
tious and unprincipled chief magistrate may 
form a standing army, for their subversion and 
subjugation. By the 97th article of the " Rules 
and Articles of War," it is provided, that — 
" The officers a Jid soldiers of any troops^ whether 
militia or others^ being mustered and in pay of 
the United States^ shalU at all times ^ and in all 
places^ when joined^ or acting in conj miction with 
the regular forces of the United States^ be gov- 
erned by these rules and articles of war, and 



124 

shall be subject to be tried by courts martial^ in 
like manner with the officers and soldiers in the 
regular forces^ save only that such courts martial 
shall be composed entirely of militia officers*^'' The 
** Rules and Articles of War," form a terrible 
and bloody code — a code incompatible with the 
crudest notions of civil freedom. Had the free 
and independent militia of this countrj^, once 
been tamely surrendered to the grasp of the na- 
tional government — had the terrors of military 
despotism once been stretched over them, the 
road to imperial tyranny would have been per- 
fectly plain to the daring footsteps of an ambi^ 
tious administration. The bayonets of our 
sons, and our brothers, would easily have been 
turned against the bosoms of their fathers and 
their friends, and they, by refusing to obey the 
unhallowed mandates of an aspiring chief, 
would have been liable to be shot like malefac- 
tors, or, if forced to obey, must have assisted 
in subverting their own liberties, and enslaving 
their own country. 

Having engaged in the war for the preservation 
of his power, it became all-important to Mr. 
Madison so to conduct it as to secure his own 
popularity. In order to gain glory to himself, 
he had a voracious disposition to conquer the 
enemy's provinces. With this dazzling object 
before him, he became much less anxious for 
the safety of the Atlantic coast, than its relative 
importance seemed fairly to demand. It is very 



us 

apparent that he was more solicitous to conquer 
Canada, than to secure the wealthy and populous 
cities and towns upon the sea shore. To this 
object, therefore, he bent all the energies of his 
mind, and all the regular military forces of the 
nation. As early as the 14th of July, 1812, 
and the very day after the President had ordered 
the Secretary of War to declare to Governor 
Grlswold, that the United States were in iimni- 
nent danger of invasion on the Atlantic coasts 
General Dearborn, the commander in chief of 
the United States army, wrote a letter to Gover- 
nor Griswold, in which he says — '* Having re- 
ceived orders to leave the sea- coast, where I 
was ordered for the purpose of taking the neces- 
sary measures^ for placing the towns and gar ru 
sons in a state of defence against the invasion or 
attack of the enemy ^ and to repair to Albany — 
it becomes my duty again to request your Ex- 
cellency to order out such part of your state's 
quota of the detached militia, as the present state 
of war requires,- The numbers I had the 
honor to state to your Excellency in my letter 
of the 22d ult. As other objects will require 
the service of a great part of the regular troop s^ 
it will become my duty to order them from the 
sea-board, and, of course, / must leave some 
part of the coast with less protection against 
those depredating parties of the enemy, that may 
attempt invasion for the mere purpose of plun- 
der^ than prudence would have justified^ if a 

L 2 



126 

suitable number of the militia should not be or^ 
dered out in conformity with the views and in- 
tentions of the President of the United States, 
as heretofore expressed." Here the object of 
Calling for the militia is sufficiently explained. 
It was not to repel any attempted or threatened 
invasion, but it was to go into the United States 
garrisons, to supply the places of United States 
troops, and to do their appropriate duty, whilst 
the President the author of the war, should take 
the United States troops, whose first, solemn, 
and paramount duty, it was, to defend the coun- 
try, and to go in quest of the adventures of 
knight-errantry in the territories of the enemy ! 
Was this what the framers of the constitution 
meant by protecting the militia against any arbi- 
trary attempts of the nation to turn them into 
regular soldiers ? If it was, nothing further is 
necessary in any Presidential warrior ^ than to 
provoke a war, and demand of an obsequious 
Congress the command of any number of the 
militia which he may think commensurate with 
his projects of ambition and usurpation, and the 
business will be ready prepared and easily per- 
formed, to his acceptance. 

Will it be said that the declaration of the 
President, is conclusive evidence of the exis- 
tence or the danger of invasion ? Our future 
Presidents must be more careful of their vera- 
city than the two last have been, before such a 
principle can be safely adopted. Did not Mr. 



127 

JeiFerson, on a certain occasion, for the purpose 
of obtaining the command of the Vermont mi- 
litia, declare that an insurrection existed in that 
state, when the fact was notoriously otherwise ? 
The truth is, the politicians of the Jeffersonian 
school arc rarely to be trusted, even '* on 
their Bible oaths," if they have any end to an- 
swer by prevarication. They pay no regard to 
the truth, when it stands in their way — their 
ambitious purposes are more influential over 
their conduct, than any sense of moral or reli- 
gious obligation, and, of course, their practice 
is, to trust to the sanction which the end can 
furnish, in justification of the means they use 
for its accomplishment. 

The general plan upon which the war was 
conducted by the administration, was in direct 
opposition to the great principles which gave 
birth to the constitution. Ohe of the principal 
objects of the constitution, as has been more 
than once remarked, xvas^ ''^ to provide for the 
common defence,^^ No administration can jus- 
tify measures, the tendency of which is neces- 
sarily to plunge the country into war, unless they 
have taken previous precautions for *' the com- 
mon defence, ^^ To declare a war, without having 
raised an army — to provoke a nation into hostil- 
ities, whose only means of annoyance are from 
the water, and, at the same time, to withdraw 
all the national force from the sea- coast, and to 
leave the inhabitants and the towns, entirely un- 



128 

protected, and to take care of themselves, is a 
manifest violation of duty on the part of the gov- 
ernment. It seems, by the declaration of the 
generalissimo of our armies, that " other ob- 
jects,'^'' than the defence of the sea-coasts re- 
quired *' the services of a great part of the 
regular troops.'^^ Of course, those troops were 
ordered away from that coast, and the inhabi- 
tants were left to defend themselves, or to be- 
come a prey to the enemy. In such circum- 
stances, it was clearly proper for the authority, 
of the states, thus exposed and abandoned, to 
resist any attempt to rob them of their natural 
as well as constitutional defenders, not plainly- 
warranted by the constitution. Indeed, I am 
willing to go a step further than the New- Eng- 
land states went, and say, that the national gov- 
ernment having entirely failed to execute one of 
the most material and cardinal parts of the con- 
stitution — providing for the defence of the 
states — the states were thereby necessarily re- 
leased from their duties to the nation, and would 
have been justifiable in refusing a compliance 
with arequisition, which, in other circumstances, 
would have been constitutional and obligatory* 
But, in the case under consideration, there is no 
necessity of resorting to so strong ground as 
that just mentioned. The demand on the part 
of the President, was manifestly unconstitution- 
al, and to a demand not warranted by the con- 
stitution, the states are no more bound to 



129 

yield obedience, than to one \vhich might be 
made upon them by Great Britain or France. 
Indeed, if they are faithful to themselves, and 
mean to preserve their liberties and indepen- 
dence, they are bound by the strongest possible 
obligations of patriotism and duty, to resist such 
demands to the utmost. The least acquiescence 
under an unconstitutional exercise of power, on 
the part of the national government, would lay 
the axe at the root of the sovereignty of the 
states. One encroachment, however insignifi- 
cant its ostensible object, will pave the way 
for a new one of a more important and alarming 
character, and in a short time, if the national 
affairs should continue? in such unprincipled 
and usurping hands as they have been in for 
fifteen years' past, the very forms and vestiges 
of freedom would be rooted out and de- 
stroyed. 

The sequel of this history is of importance to 
shew, that ambitious men are not easily beaten 
off from a favourite object. Mr. Madison con- 
sidered himself possessed of a super- abundance 
of dignity, and therefore submitted with an ill 
grace to a public mortification. The idea of 
being arrested in his strides towards a consoli- 
dated republic, and a monopoly of power, pro- 
duced in his mind the deepest chagrin, and re- 
sentment. He brought the subject before Con- 
gress, in the style not only of complaint, but al- 
most of impeachment. It was very formally refer ^ 



130 

red to Committees — loud threats of punishments 
were uttered against the ^'' rebellions Governors of 
the New -England Stat es^^"^ and vast expectations 
were excited, and kept up, throughout the ses- 
sion, to see what course would be adopted by a, 
limited relmhlican government^ to punish the 
chief Magistrates of free and independent sove- 
reignties, for an exercise of constitutional duty 
over their own citizens. After deliberating over 
the high misdemeanors of these refractory Ma- 
gistrates during a whole session, the business 
** ended in smoke"^— not even a report from the 
prolific head of Mr. Senator Giles could be 
f]fetained, and the Governors escaped from the 
threatened vengance of ct disappointed Cabinet. 
Still, the idea of conquering Canada was not 
abandoned ; and the President, whose popularity' 
began to be in great jeopardy by the untov/ard 
progress of the war, considered himself under 
asj absolute necessity to make some impression 
upon the enemy's territory, to prevent himself 
from sinking under the pressure of the calamities 
which pressed so heavily upon him. That im-"* 
pression could not be made without men — men 
would not enlist — and as for sparing any por- 
tion of the few who had survived the disasters of 
the first campaign, to protect the sea-coast, that 
was entirely out of the question. If that coast 
was protected at all, it must be done by the mi- 
litia. At the same time, he resolved to keep the 
command of them in his own hands. To ac- 



i 



131 

complish this double object, without law or con- 
stitution, he divided up the nation into pre/ec 
ttires, and placed an officer of the United 
States, of rank, in each division, in order that 
when the militia should be ordered into the field, 
this agent of his might take the command. The 
pretext for adopting this course was, that an 
officer of experience might be at hand, in every 
military division, to superintend the measures 
of defence, and to direct the military operations, 
within the district. The sincerity of this pre- 
text may be proved by the fact, that the officers 
appointed in the districts in the eastern divisions, 
were, almost without exception, of that class 
who had been recalled from the interior, because 
of their total incapacity to perform the duties 
which had been assigned them on the inland 
frontiers. Among these, it is necessary only to 
mention, the names of Dearborn, Lewis, and 
Bloomfield. C3) To these disgraced and in- 
competent men, was the safety of the popula- 
tion, and wealth of a large extent of the Atlantic 
frontier committed, and at the same time, scarce- 
ly one of them had a single regiment of regular 
troops under his command, to man his forts, 
and perform the necessary garrison duty. The 
demand for the militia to supply the places of 
the men who had been ordered away on the ri- 
diculous project of taking Canada was renewed- 
but met with no better success than before. 
Militia were, indeed, ordered into the field, par- 



132 

ticuiarly in Connecticut, at New-London, where 
a force had become necessary to guard some 
^hips of the United States, which had taken ref- 
uge at that port from the enemy's squadron, then 
off the mouth of the harbour. At that time viz. 
in 1813, General Burdick, a respectable United 
States officer commanded that ''mihtary dis- 
trict," and, of course, there was as Httle clash- 
ing of jurisdiction between the United States 
and the state, as could have been expected. 
The state kept an officer in the field of higher 
rank than General Burdick; and the military 
were secured within the pale of the constitution, 
and the expencesof the state troops were paid by 
the United States. 

In 1814, General Burdick was removed to 
another station, and his place was supplied by 
General Gushing. The harbour v\^as still block- 
aded, and the United States ships still required 
protection— protection which the government 
of the nation had never bestowed, but which 
they had derived almost exclusively from the 
state militia. A requisition had been made 
upon the several states for 93,500 militia — the 
quota of Connecticut, as it appears by the cir- 
cular letter of the Secretary of War, .vas 3000. 
The same letter directed, that with this number 
of men, there should be detached one Major 
General, (4) one Brigadier General, &x. The 
detachment was made without delay, and the 
officers and men were ordered to be equipped 



133 

for service. It would seem from this direction 
of the Secretary of War, that, in the opinion of 
the President, 3000 men was a Major General's 
command, and, of course, 1500 that of a 
Brigadier ; otherwise the order was an absur- 
dity. Had there been a requisition for the 
whole 3000 at once, it is perfectly clear, that the 
Major General, as well as the Brigadier General, 
must have been ordered into service with them. 
It would seem to follow, by an equally neces- 
sary rule of reasoning, that if only 1500 of the 
men should be ordered out at once, a Brigadier 
General must go with them, because by the 
amount of the quota, and the detachment of 
officers, 3000 formed a division, and there being 
two brigades in a division, 1 500 was to form a 
brigade. One more inference appears to be 
alike irresistible, and that is — if more than 1500 
should be ordered into service at once, as such a 
number, by the organization of the quota, 
would be more than a brigade, a Major General 
must go with them, because there is no inter- 
mediate command between a Brigadier General 
and a Major General, and here was not a second 
Brigadier provided. 

Upon the celebrated attack upon Stonington 
being made, the fears of Captain Decatur for the 
safety of his ships, became very great, and a 
body of the militia in the immediate neighbour- 
hood of the place where these ships lay, were 
ordered into the field. At the same time, a re- 

M 



134 

quisition was made by General Cubbing upon 
Governor Smitb, for 1750 of tbe 3000 men. 
He took care, bowever, as bis own commission 
was no bigber tban a Brigadier, not to call for an 
officer of bigber rank tban bimself to command 
tbe men tbus required — intending, wben tbe 
men sbould be in tbe field, and in tbe service of 
tbe United St-ites, to avail bimself of tbe 98tb 
Article of War, and take tbe command o\ er tbe 
militia officer. Governor Smitb detacbed tbe 
men, agreeably to tbe requisition ; but as the 
number required exceeded one brigade of the 
quota, be justly considered it proper and neces- 
jsary to order a Major General to command 
tbem. General Gushing, who doubtless v/as 
desirous of having something under his com- 
mand, beside one meagre regiment of regular 
troops, and v/ho .probably bad no disposition 
to be commanded, even by a superior officer, re- 
sisted tbe order for a Major General to take tbe 
field, on tbe ground, that agreeably to tbe regu- 
lations in the War Department, a brigade con» 
sisted of 2000, and a division of 4000. What- 
ever these regulations might be in other cases, 
as it respected the quota of militia called for by 
tbe Secretary of War from Connecticut, the 
whole number was 3000, with them was order- 
ed a Major General and two Brigadier Gen- 
erals. Governor Smitb, therefore, acted with 
perfect correctness in detaching a Major Gen- 
eral, when a greater portion of tbe quota 



\ ^ !t 

was called for than the amount of one Brigade — 
that is 1500 men. 

As soon as the Major General took the coni^ 
mand, General Cashing withheld all supplies on 
the part of the United States, on tlie single 
ground that the command of the militia \vas 
not placed in his hands—and it is understood 
by the publications which have been made on 
this subject from the Department of War, that 
the expences which that state incurred, in the year 
1814, amounting to between one and two hun- 
dred thousands of dollars, in supporting the m]- 
1 ilia, called for by the President of the United 
States, and in reality for the sole purpose of de- 
fending the United States squadron, which had 
taken refuge from the enemy in the harbour of 
New-London, will not be paid by the United 
States, merely because the Governor thought 
proper to appoint a Major General, to command 
the militia, ordered into the service of tlie Unit- 
ed States in the manner before mentioned. 

The burthen thrown upon the New- England 
states, by the war, the measures which led to 
it, and the disgraceful peace Vv'hich preceded it, 
have, been borne by them with lamb like patience 
and fortitude. The war was reprobated as un- 
necessary and ruinous, by a great proportion of 
the population of these states, and by no incon- 
siderable number of them, as wicked. Not- 
withstanding this, and all the insults, and ca- 
lumnies that were heaped upon them by the 



135 

supporters of the administration, they paid, 
v/ith the utmost promptitude, the enormous 
public exactions, drawn from them to pamper 
the minions of a cabinet, who were fattening on 
the heart's blood of the communitj', and, at the 
same time turned out from tim.e to time, with 
the greatest alacrity, to repel the various attempts 
to invade their soil. The case of Connecticut 
is peculiarly hard, and unjust. The whole ex- 
pense incurred in that state, arose from the fact, 
that Captain Decatur took his ships into New- 
London. If that event had not happened, it is 
not probabib that their shores would have been 
at all molested by the enemy's naval forces. 
But whilst they were making the most strenuous 
exertions to protect the property of the United 
States, and save its navy from the mortification 
of being destroyed in their harbours, whilst the 
national government was exhausting their re- 
sources to carry on a disgraceful as well as a 
disastrous w^arfare against Canada, and had left 
them to their own means to provide for their 
own defence, on the pitiful pretext that the Unit- 
ed States officer had a right, in face of the con- 
stitution, to command the militia of the state, 
they refuse even to provide the militia with 
rations — much more to pay off the patriotic 
troops of the state. 

I profess not to be acquainted with the feeL 
ings of the people of that state on this subject. 
But from their general character as a high-mind. 



137 

ed, intelligent, and independent people, undei- 
standing their rights, and resolutely deternnined 
on preserving their freedom, I have not a doubt, 
should the national government finally de- 
fraud them out of their just demand for their 
great exertions and sacrifices during the war, 
that they will consider their liberties and con- 
stitutional privileges as cheaply preserved, even 
at so great a pecuniary sacrinceo 

The firmness and resolution manifested by the 
New-England states, in defence of their militia, 
produced important effects in various parts of 
the country, even where the state authorities 
were less careful of their rights, and moie ob<- 
sequious to the national administrationo The life 
and sufferings of a soldier, had but few charms 
to an independent and freeborn yeomanry, and ? 
the strongest temptations, the most extravagant 
bounties, that the nation offered, filled the ranks - 
of the regular army but slowly. In the summer 
of 1814, while the militia of Connecticut were 
guarding not only their own shores, but the na- 
tional ships, with great constancy and courage, 
and in the only instance in which a serious at- 
tack was made upon their settlements, display- 
ed a coolness and bravery, that was not surpass- 
ed during the war, the administration suffered 
themselves, and the nation over whose affairs 
they so unworthily presided, to be forever dis- 
graced by the capture, and destruction of the 
public buildings, at the seat of governments - 

M 2 



138 

After the exhibition of ignorance, irresokitior* 
weakness, and pusillanimity, which such men 
are too apt to display on such occasions, the 
great officers of our government were seized with 
a panic fear, and fled from the region of danger, 
in a measure that would have disgraced a gang 
of counterfeiters, or highwaymen, at the ap- 
proach of the sheriff and his posse. The disaster, 
and the conduct of the administration, struck 
the nation with astonishment and dismay ; and 
nothing but the reverberating effect of the vic- 
tory at Lake Champlam, to the merit of which 
they had not the slightest claim, and the fortu- 
nate repulse of the British at Baltimore, saved 
them from utter ruin. Those brilliant events, 
and the timely sacrifice of one of their number, 
gave opportunity for the public feelings to grow 
tranquil, and the spirit of party to revive ; and 
in the end, the two most guilty members of the 
cabinet regained their standing with their old 
friends, and partizans. 

It, however, became absolutely necessarj^ to 
raise an army, or give up the contest. Provi- 
dence had frowned severely upon the intentions 
of the government in undertaking the war, by 
permitting the allied powers of Europe to tri^ 
umph over the great tyrant of modern days, for 
whose good among other vicious purj^oses, our 
v/ar had been undertaken. The downfal of 
Bonaparte, and the subjugation of France, ren- 
dered it certain, that our cabinet would never 



t 



139 

bring Great Britain to make peace upon the 
terms they demanded. If the administration, 
after all their boasting, and threats, should be 
forced to make peace, without having gained 
more reputation than they had thus far acquired, 
it seemed as if the popularity, for the acquisition 
of which they had made such long and uninter- 
rupted exertions, might all be lost. Noth- 
ing short of some military achievement, ap- 
peared to be adequate to the exigencies of their 
case — military glory could not be acquired with- 
out men — and men would not enlist. This 
produced a dilemma, in which it became ne- 
cessary to sacrifice either their own popularity, 
or some of the provisions of the constitution. 
In deciding upon the victim, they did not hesi- 
tate — the constitution was instantly marked for de- 
struction. The then Secretary of War, now Se- 
cretary of State, and candidate, by order of the 
State of Virginia, for the next Presidential elec- 
tion, prepared his celebrated scheme for forcing 
the freemen of this republic to become soldiers, 
which was immediately and appropriately deno- 
minated, in honour of its progenitor in France — 
A CONSCRIPTION. The substance of the plan 
is contained in the following extracts from his 
letter to the Military Committee of the House of 
Representatives. 

''Let the free male population of the United 
States, between eighteen and forty . five years, be 
formed into classes of one hundred men each^ 



140 

and let each class furnish four men for the war, 
within thirty days after the classification, and 
replace them in the event of casualty. The 
classification to be formed with a view to the 
equal distribution of property among the several 
classes. If any class fails to provide the men 
required of it, within the time specified, they 
shall be raised by draft on the whole class; any 
person thus drafted being allowed to furnish a 
substitute. 

" The present bounty in land to be allowed to 
each recruit, and the present bounty in money, 
which is paid to each recruit by the United 
States, to be paid to each draft by all the inhab- 
itants within the precinct of the class, within 
which the draft may be made, equally, ac- 
cording to the value of the property which they 
may respectively possess ; and if such bounty 
be not paid within days, the same to be 

levied on all the taxable property of the said in- 
habitants. And in like manner, the bounty 
whatever it may be, which may be, employed, 
in raising a recruit, to avoid a draft, to be 
assessed on the taxable property of the whole 
precinct. 

*' The recruits to be delivered over to the re- 
cruiting officer in each district, to be marched 
to such places of general rendezvous as may 
be designated by the Department of War." 

At the time when this scheme was proposed, 
the administration were on the borders of des- 



14i 

pair with regard to the means of carrying on the 
war — their army was reduced to an insignificant 
force, their treasury had long been empty, and 
their credit was entirely prostrate. They could 
neither enlist men, nor borrow money. In such 
circumstances, bold and desperate measures 
might naturally have been expected from men, 
V. hose conduct was never regulated by any more 
elevated motives, than personal popularity, and 
personal aggrandizement. But that a scheme of 
■ so bold and daring a character as this, one which 
aimed so fatal a blow against the rights and lib- 
erties of the people, should have been presented 
by the expected heir of the Presidency to a 
legislative committee, and, by that com,mittee, 
reported to the national representatives, could 
hardly have been anticipated, even by those who 
are accustomed to regard written constitutions 
with little reverence. 

1. The first grand object of this scheme^ was 
to force the free inhabitants of this country^ to 
becoine regular soldiers of the standing army, 

2. The second^ to extort money from them^ 
by a species of fine or forfeiture^ for the purpose 
of carrying on the xvar. 

The provisions of the constitution, relative to 
the militia, I have already quoted. It is by vir- 
tue of these provisions, alone, that the national 
government has any control over the militia. 
So far as the plain letter of that instrument 
authori74es them, they have power over the 



142 

militia ; but not one particle beyond that letter , 
and every attempt to exercise any such power, 
beyond the letter of the constitution, is an at- 
tempt at usurpation. If successful, it is tyran- 
ny. Where is the provision in the constitution, 
that gives Congress power to force a man 
into the army ? No sucii power can be found — 
and if the inhabitants do not choose voluntarily 
to enlist^ it is not i?i the power of the national 
government to compel them to do ity even f the 
very safety of the country should depend upoJi 
it. The country belongs to the people^ not to the 
government — f the people do not choose to de- 
fend the coimtry^ theirs is the loss. Nay, the 
government itself belongs to the people — the 
fundamental principle of it is — that the sove- 
reignty is in the people, IFhat a strange para- 
dox would it be, if the government should be 
suffered to arrogate to themselves the great in- 
terests of the 7iation, those which belong exclu- 
sively to the people, and pretend to justify acts 
of tyranny and usurpation against those inte- 
rests, when the people themselves have not dele- 
gated to them any authority for that purpose^ 
arid do not incline to exercise, collectively, the 
power they have thus reserved. 

But, says Mr. Monroe, — "The men are not 
drawn from the militia, hvXfrom the population 
of the countrj^ : when they enlist voluntarily, it is 
not as militia-men that they act, but as citizens. 
If they are drafted it must be in tl^e same sense. 



143 

In both instances they are enrolled in the militia 
corps, but that, as is presumed, cannot prevent 
the voluntary act in the one instance, or the 
compulsive in the other. The whole population 
of the United States, within certain ages, belong- 
to these corps. If the United States could not 
form regular armies from them, they could 
raise none." 

This reasoning is worthy of the man, and of 
the occasion. There is a curious distinction at- 
tempted to be drawn between the populatioiiy 
and ?/^^ mz7i?ia,. which would never have been 
conceived, certainly not gravely advanced, by 
any other politician then one bred in the Jeffer- 
sonian school. What are the militia composed 
of? The male population. Is there any portion 
of that population which is not militia.^ None 
but what is specifically exempted by statute. Of 
what portion of the male population, are the mi- 
litia composed ? All between the ages of eigh- 
fteen and forty- five. Within what ages were 
these drafts to be made ? Between the ages 
of eighteen and forty-five. If a mtin should be 
taken by force from the class of inhabitants who 
are between those ages, w^ould he not be taken 
from the militia? Most assuredly, for there is 
no other class from which he can be taken, un- 
less from those, who by reason of infirmity, or 
some other cause, are by law exempted* Indeed, 
Mr. Mairoe himself, in the very passage just 
cited, says, that — **the whole population of the 



144 

United States within certain ages belong to these 
corps" — that is, ^' the militia corps, '^'' which he 
had JList before mentioned. To such strange 
and palpable absurdities and contradictions, do 
bad men resort, when they wish to hood- wink 
and deceive the people, in order that they may 
by stealtli accomplish an unconstitutional ob- 
ject. 

But, says the same profound logician — '* Con- 
gress have a right, by the constitution, to raise 
regular armies, and no restraint is imposed on 
the exercise of it, except in the pro\dsions which 
are included generally to guard against the abuse 
of power, with none of which does this plan in- 
terfere.'' Congress have a right to support ar- 
mies, as well as to raise them — nor is there, that 
I stQ^^ any restraint imposed in the exercise of 
it,''^ Will Mr. Monroe contend, that under this 
general grant of power. Congress can constitu- 
tionally declare, that every hundred men in the ^ 
United States shall maintain four soldiers, and 
in case they fail so to do, shall pay one hundred 
dollars, to be assessed on their taxable property^ 
and if not paid forthwith, to be levied from the 
same? This is a perfectly plain, and perfectly 
parallel case — and Mr. Monroe is respectfully 
requested to answer the enquiry. When the 
constitution was before the convention of Virginia 
for adoption, Mr. Monroe was a member, and 
was strongly opposed to its adoption. One 
ground of his opposition was, the feax that the 



145 

fiational government would over-power the 
state governments — and one of the sources of 
that fear lay in what is sometimes called the 
sweeping clause, which gives to Congress the 
power of making all laws necessary to carry the 
powers previously granted into effect. In dis- 
cussing that point, Mr. Monroe stated a case, 
which shews the true character of his present 
mode of reasoning, as forcibly as it could have 
illustrated his views of that clause, at that time. 
He remarked that—" If you give to the United 
States the power of direct taxation — in making 
all laws necessary to give it operation, suppose 
they should be of opinion, that the right of the 
trial by jury, was one of the requisites to carry 
it into effect ; there is no check on this constitu- 
tion to prevent the formal abolition of it. There 
is a general power given to them, to make all 
laws that will enable them to carry their 
powers into effect. There are no limits pointed 
out. They are not restrained or controlled from 
making any law, however oppressive in its ope- 
ration, which they may think necessary to car- 
, ry their powers into effect. By this general un- 
qualified power, they may infringe not only the 
trial by jury but the liberty of the press, and 
every right that is not expressly secured, or ex- 
cepted, from that general power. I conceive 
that such general powers are very dangerous. 
Our great unalienable rights ought to be secured 
from being destroyed by such unlimited powers, 

N 



146 

either bij a bill of rights, or by an express pro- 
vision in the body of the constitution.^'^ It is 
worthy of notice, thathe who thus strenuously 
opposed the adoption of the constitution, on the 
ground that there was no provision contained in 
it to guard "our great unalienable rights" from 
destruction, by ?n unlimited construction of this 
sweeping clause, is the very man who would 
now avail himself of an opportunity to extend 
that very clause, by construction, to such a 
length, as if carried into execution, would com- 
plete the destruction of one of the most sacred, 
and invaluable of them. 

All the foreigners who write and publish for 
our benefit on political subjects, were ardently 
in favour of this republican conscription. The 
author of the ** Olive-Branch," in a very especial 
manner, advocates it with great labour and 
fervency of zeal. In doing this, he boldly un- 
dertakes to prove seven points m support of this 
system, so abhorrent to the feelings and sen- 
timents, of every man in the slightest degree ac- 
quainted with the true principles of free govern- 
ment. I shall not attempt to exam.ine all these 
heads of his political beast. Upon one or two 
of them, however, I will briefly remark. 

He says, that — ** there is no principle more 
clearly recognized and established, in the con- 
stitutions and laws of the several states, than the 
right of society to coerce, as well as the duty of 
the citizen to afford military service for the gen- 



147 

eral defence." To prove this proposition, he 
appeals to the constitutions and laws of several 
of the states. Now, this man, whose vanity 
led him to imagine, that he could control all the 
tumult and violence of party passion, in this 
country, by writing a book with a plausible 
but deceitful title, has not discrimination of 
mind enough to perceive the difference be- 
tween the characters and powers of the state, and 
national governments, in this respect, nor dis- 
cernment enough to discover, that when he lias 
proved his point, he has not advanced one inch 
towards the object he has in view — which is, in 
truth to shew, that Congress have the power to 
violate the constitution. The states were com- 
plete independent sovereignties — posisessing all 
the attributes of such, limited only by their con- 
stitutions. If his quotations from their consti- 
tutions prove that which he cites them for, they 
prove, that by express provisions for that pur- 
pose, in written constitutions, those states have 
the power to coerce the military services of their 
citizens. If Mr. Carey can find such a povision 
in the constitution of the United States, there 
will be an end of the question ; and it was very 
useless for him to shew what provisions on this 
subject other constitutions contained. If he 
cannot shew such a provision in that constitution 
its existence in all the other constitutions in the 
world, will not give the power to Congress, be- 
cause Congress have no power except what is 



148 

expressly granted to them in that constitution. 
On the contrary, its being found i?i the state con- 
stitutions, and not in that of the United States, 
is decisive evidence that it belongs to the for- 
mer, and not to the latter-^iox by an express 
provision of the constitution of the United 
States, it is declared, that "the powers not de- 
legated to the United States by the constitution, 
nor prohibited by it to the states are reserved to 
the states respectively, or to the people." The 
evide-ice, therefore, that is derived from the pro- 
visions of the state constitutions, so far from 
proving the soundness of his proposition, ac- 
tually proves the reverse to be true. 

Mr. Carey also contends, that " the classifi- 
cation system," as he mildly terms the con- 
scription, " prevailed during the revolution"— 
and to prove it quotes a passage from the laws 
of Pennsijlvania. A great many things pre- 
vailed during the struggle for independence, 
which, in the peculiar situation of the country 
might be tolerated, but which would not be sa- 
lutary examples for the country, when enjoying 
its liberties and privileges, in a state of indepen- 
dence, and under a precise form of government* 
But, allowing the full force of the evidence ad- 
duced, it only shews, that the power was exer- 
cised, in the peculiar manner described in the 
law, by the government of the state — and, of 
course, makes directly against his proposition. 

Finally, it is averred, with an air of triumph, 
that General Knox, in the year 1790, devised a 



150 

system essentially like Mr. Monroe's, and that 
it received the sanction of General Washington. 
The proof adduced to support the latter asser- 
tion, is not very satisfactory. But if the fact be 
admitted, it only proves, that in that particular 
case, that great man fell into one of the 
very few errors that he ever committed. That 
error, hovi^ever, does not sanction the principle. 
And when it is considered that the system pro- 
posed by General Knox, did not meet with the 
approbation of Congress, the argument to be 
derived from it in support of Mr. Monroe's 
scheme, is not very strong. If it were otherwise 
at some future day, all the foolish and ridicu- 
ulous measures which were from time to time 
recommended by Mr. Jefferson, during his 
Presidency, but which, so far from being 
adopted by Congress were scouted even by his 
own partizans, may be produced as precedents 
to control the future proceedings of the national 
legislature. Nay, even this very example of 
attempted usurpation, may on the same principle, 
be resorted to, as evidence of the true construc- 
tion of the national constitution. 

It was soon found, that Mr. Monroe, and his 
obsequious Military Committee, had proposed 
too bold and threatening a measure. The alarm 
at such dangerous and tyrannical principles, in 
the administration, spread rapidly throug'n the 
country, and marks of resistance to such a 
diiring attempt upon the liberties of the people, 

N 2 



150 

frightened its authors so far as to induce them, 
in some measure, to change their purpose. The 
bill in the House of Representatives, founded 
upon the principles of Mr. Monroe's letter, 
was postponed, in order to learn the fate of 
some measures of a somewhat similar charac- 
ter, which had been introduced into the Senate, 
by Mr. Giles of Virginia, the head of the Mili- 
tary Committee of that house. No man that i 
has appeared on the political stage, since the 
adoption of the constitution — not even Jeifer- 
£on, Madison, or Monroe — has discovered a 
stronger disposition, by his proposed measures 
and principles, to consolidate the government, 
and destroy the sovereignty of the states, than 
Mr. Giles. He introduced a bill to the Senate 
for a conscription, a little more cunningly con- 
cealed, but in reality the same, as Mr. Monroe's, 
and he coupled it with a measure of the most 
barefaced unconstitutionality. / allude to the 
bill authorizing the enlisting of minors into the 
regular army, without the consent of their pa- 
rents^ guardians., or masters^ This was a meas- 
ure of the most daring usurpation. Congress 
have no power to interfere with the concerns of 
the individual states. Congress cannot pass 
laws regulating the tenure or titles of real es- 
tates — to alter or destroy contracts, &c. &c. 
The right of the parent to the service of his 
children, till they arrive at full age, is absolute. 
It is founded on the duty of protection and sup- 



151 

port on the one side, and of obedience and ser- 
vice on the other. The right of the master to 
the services of his apprentice, or servant, is 
founded upon positive contract, and is as obHga- 
tory upon the parties, as the promise to pay 
money in a bond, or any other matter oi agree- 
ment or covenant. This law was calculated to 
dissolve those obligations — to release the child 
from the parent, to sever the ties of duty and 
natural affection, to open the way for the sedu- 
cer of youth into the bosom of families, to plant 
misery in the parental bosom, and to tempt the 
young and inexperienced from the path of vir- 
tue, into the haunts of vice and profligacy. To 
the perpetual disgrace and infamy of our coun- 
try, the great principle of this bill met the ap- 
probation of a majority of both branches of the 
national legislature. Had it not fortunately 
failed, in consequence of a dispute, respecting 
some of its less important provisions, between 
the houses, there is no doubt it would have re- 
ceived the approbation of the chief magistrate, 
and been clothed with all the forms of a constitu- 
tional law. I say there is no doubt of this event, 
because it comports precisely with the character 
of the man. Cold and unfeeling, a stranger to the 
emotions of paternal affection, as well as to the 
charms of filial love and filial duty, his hard- 
hearted ambition knows no higher motive to 
action than the gratification of a selfish and hyp- 
ocritical popularity. Had it passed the legis- 



152 

lature, and its executioa been attempted, it 
would have shaken the government to its foun- 
dation. One state, distinguished for its attach- 
ment to liberty and the rights of its citizens, for- 
tunately had an early opportunity through the 
medium of its legislature, which happened then 
to be in session, to speak the language of digni- 
fied opposition to such an outrage against its 
most valuable privileges. The resolutions 
passed by the Legislature of Connecticut, in 
October, 1814, reflect on that state the highest 
honour. The authors of the measure, however, 
became thoroughly alarmed at the symptoms 
of opposition throughout the country, and the 
plan was abandoned by the party, when it had 
almost reached maturity. 

2. I will barely advert to the other object 
which this strong measure had in view, viz. the 
extortion of money, in the form of a fine or 
penalty, to carry on the war. By the terms of 
Mr. Monroe's letter to the Military Committee, 
the bounty in money, which, the United States 
were to pay to their recruits for the regular army, 
was to be paid by the inhabitants of the class 
from which the draft was taken — and the amount 
was to be assessed upon them according to the 
property they respectively possessed, and if not 
paid within a given period, it was to be levied 
from their taxable property. If a recruit should 
be furi^ished to avoid a draft, the scm neces- 
sary for that purpose, was to be raised in the 



153 

same manner. It would be quite gratifying to 
me^ at least, if not to others, to be informed, 
from what provision in the constitution, the 
power to raise money in this mode is derived. 
Although I have read that instrument a good 
many times, and with some care, I have not 
been able to find the shadow of such an author- 
ity. If this money is to be considered as a fine, 
or penalt3% and such the bill framed upon Mr. 
Monroe's letter considered it, upon the class 
for not having furnished their number of re- 
cruits, this is a novel mode of recovering it. 
'* In all criminal prosecutions," says the con- 
stitution, ** the accused shall enjoy the right to 
a speedy and public trial, by »n impartid:! jury 
of the state and district wherein the crime shall 
have been committed." — Is it more properly a 
matter of civil jurisdiction, the Scuiie ii-istrument 
says, *' in suits at common law, where the value 
in controversy shall exceed twenty dollars, the 
right of trial by jury shall be preserved." Let 
it be considered in what light it may, either as 
of a criminal or civil character, there is no mode 
of collecting a fine or penalty but by trial. 
Here, however, is a much shorter mode provid- 
ed — assessors are to affix every man's share, 
and the amount is to be leviediipon his property — ■ 
ajid all without judge or jury. 

An attempt was made to violate the personal 
freedom of one class of citizens, at the same 
time, which, when it is considered for what ob=- 



154 

jects the war was professedly undertaken, is ccr* 
tainly of a very extraordinary character. Mr. 
Monroe's letter above- mentioned, was dated 
the 17th of October, 1814. On the 15th of 
November, following, Mr. Jones, Secretary of 
the Navy, made a report to Congress relative to 
his ovv^n department, in which he distinctly re- 
commended the IMPRESSMENT OF SEAMEN. 
The following is an extract from that report — 

There is another branch of the service, which 
appears to me to merit the serious deliberation of 
the legislature, with regard to the establishment of 
some regular sj/stem, by which the voluntary 
enlistments for the navy may derive occasional 
reinforcement^ from the services of those seamen^ 
who pursuing their own private occupations^ are 
exempt^ by their itinerant habits^ from public 
service of any kind. In my vieiv there woidd 
be nothing incompatible with the free spirit of 
our institutions^ or with the rights of individuals ^ 
if registers, with a particular descriptive record, 
were kept in the several districts, of all the sea- 
men belonging to the United States, and provision 
made by law for classing and calling into the 
public service^ in succession^ for reasonable stat- 
ed periods ^ such portions or classes^ as the pub- 
lic service might require; and if any individual 
so called^ should be absent at the tifne, the next 
in succession should perform the tour of duty of 
the absentee, who should, on his return, be liable 

to serve his original tour, and his substitute be 



155 

exempt from his succeeding regular tour of 
duty.'' Here was a specific plan recommended 
and pointed out, for forcing our seamen into the 
naval service precisely that offence against the 
rights of man for the abolition of which we de- 
clared, and carried on, a bloody and expensive 
war. It is not to be imagined, that this was 
the mere fantasy of Mr. Secretary Jones's lively 
imagination. No — it was the offspring of the 
cabinet — the child of the administration. The 
heads of department are not suffered to make 
and present such important state papers, with- 
out the inspection and approbation of their great 
superintendent, Every thing of this sort pas- 
ses the royal approbation, before it is transmit- 
ted to his 'faithful Commons-''' 

Here are detailed several flagrant attemps up. 
on the liberties of the people, and the indepen- 
dence of the state governments, which, had 
they succeeded, would have prostrated the bar- 
riers which guard those governments, and have 
opened a plain and easy way for the administra- 
tion to have accomplished a consolidated nation- 
al government. And it is for resisting these at- 
tempts that the New- England states have been 
so foully traduced, and, in the end, essentially 
sacrificed. I am very sensible that it is said, 
that the nation was engaged in w^ar, and that it 
is the duty of every man, and every state, to 
support the cause of the country. That is say- 
ing no less, than that, when an aspiring, and 



156 

wicked administration, for purposes of the bas- 
est character, plunge the country into a war, 
merely to further their hostile designs against 
the constitution and freedom of their country, 
it is the duty of every man to sacrifice that con- 
stitution and those liberties, and to subserve the 
iniquitous designs of such an administration. 
So far from its being proper or prudent to relax 
in our vigilance over the liberties of the country, 
in a time of war, it is, of all others, the most 
proper time to be watchful, and jealous of en- 
croachments — for at no other time are they so 
likely to be made. When ambitious men have 
an army at their command, they are always to 
be feared — for even an ambitious coward, by 
the aid of more daring dependents, may succeed 
in overturning a free and defenceless government. 
How much would that danger be increased, if 
in addition to an army, such an administration 
could rob the states of their militia, and add 
their force to that of their regular mercenaries? 
That robbery was attempted in the late war, in 
the manner I have described — for what pur- 
poses, every man is at liberty to determine for 
himself. It was defeated by the firmness and 
patriotism of the New-England states, and their 
dignified and virtuous chief magistrates. And 
whatever the slaves of party, and the minions of 
the national administration, may think or say of 
those magibtrates, the free people of this nation 
will have cause, to their latest hour, to feel the 



157 . . 

liveliest gratitude to them for their wise, firm and 
disinterested stand in favour of their hberties. 

One other topic, according to my general plan, 
remains to be considered, and that is — the 
"Hartford convention." That body of 
men have been so long the subject of coarse and 
vulgar calumny — so many miserable drivellers, 
like ragged mendicants, have sought favour, 
and begged for pence, from a corrupt adminis- 
tration, by vihfying that assembly of patriots, 
that it will doubtless excite surprize and perhaps 
even astonishment, that any person should, at 
this late period, have the boldness to espouse 
their cause. Still I am not to be deterred from 
doing justice, as far as my understanding shall 
enable me to as honourable and dignified a col- 
lection of statesmen, and to as constitutional 
an assembly as any recorded in the history of 
our country. 

The great charge against the movers and 
members of the convention, has been that their 
intention was to divide the states. A 
disposition to produce that event, seems to have 
grown up into a heinous offence, within a few 
years past, in the estimation of a set of men, 
who formerly viewed the subject in a very dif- 
ferent light. If I am not mistaken, at the time 
Mr. Jay's treaty was under consideration, and 
it was apprehended, notwithstanding all the de- 
mocratic clamour against it, that the Senate 
would ratify it, there were very loud threats in 

o 



158 

Virginia, and among men of high standing, of 
a division of the union. Afterwards, it is true, 
it was found that the Easterji States v/ere, in 
one point of view, important to those of the 
South and West — the former had money, 
which the latter wanted — and therefore attach- 
ment to the union, in those portions of the coun- 
try, became fashionable. As an abstract ques- 
tion, in a country where all sovereignty rests in 
the people, and v»'ho, of course, have a su- 
preme right to change or m^odify their govern- 
ment, it is extremely difficult to discern, in 
what lies the guilt of proposing a division, if any 
man, or set of men, believe it expedient. It 
may be unwise, and injurious to divide, or even 
to talk of it— but that we have not the right so to 
do, will not be conceded, so long as the fun- 
damental principle of our government remains 
the same. 

But let the abstract question be as it may — 
the charge against the convention, of attempting 
the severance of the union, is a gross calumny. 
I argue this from several circumstances. 

1. From the resolutions of the legislatures by 
which the members were appointed. 

The proposition for a convention originated in 
Massachusetts. That state, from its size, being 
much superior in that respect to the other New- 
England states, is supposed by the democrats 
generally to maintain a controlling influence over 
the others. The following is an extract from 



159 

the resolutions of the legislature of that state for 
calling a convention — 

"" The general objects of the proposed con- 
ference are, first, to deliberate upon the dangers 
to which the eastern section of the union is ex- 
posed by the course of the war, and which there 
is too much reason to believe will tliicken round 
ihem in its progress, and to devise, if practica- 
ble, means of security and defence, which may 
be consistent with the preservation of their re- 
sources from total ruin, and adapted to their 
local situation, mutual relations and habits, and 

NOT REPUGNANT TO THEIR OBLIGATIONS 

AS MEMBERS OF THE UNION. WliCH Con- 
vened for this object, which admits not of delay, 
it seems also expedient to submit to their con- 
sideration and enquiry, whether the interests of 
these states demand that persevering endeavours 
be used by each of them to procure such amend- 
ments to be effected in the national constitu- 
tion as may secure them equal advantage, and 
whether, if in their judgment this should be 
deemed impracticable under the existing provi- 
sions for amending that instrument, an experi- 
ment may be made, without disadvan- 
tage TO THE NATION, for obtaining a con- 
vention from all the states in the union, or such 
of them as may approve of the measure, with 
a view to obtain such amendment." 

The objects specifLed in this resolution, arc — 
To deliberate upon the dangers to which 



160 

the eastern section is exposed by the course of 
the war. 

2. To devise, if practicable, means of security 
and defence, which may be consistent with the 
preservation of tlieir resources from total ruin, 
adapted to their local situation, mutual relations 
and habits, and not repugnant to their obligations 
as members cf the miion, 

3. To consider the subject of proposing such 
amendments to the constitution, as may afford 
equal advantages to the eastern states. 

4. If that should be deemed impracticable, 
imder the present provisions of the constitution 
relative to procuring amendments, to consider 
whether a7i experiment may be made., without 
disadvantage to the nation^ to have a general 
convention for the purpose of obtaining such 
amendments. 

These are the objects v^'hich the Massachu- 
setts legislature had in view in proposing the 
convention, and these are the instructions which 
they gave their delegates. It is somewhat diffi- 
cult to discern in them any plan, or even a hint 
towards a division of the union. On the con- 
trary, every thing was to be done with strict re- 
gard to the obligations which the eastern states 
were under as members of the union. Let them 
be considered for one m.oment. 

1. To deliberate on the dangers to which the 
eastern section of the 7iation was exposed by the 
course of the zvar. Was not that section m.ost 



161 

peculiarly exposed to clanger from this qua1rter.<^ 
The national government, at the very outset, 
withdrew from their shores Avhat few troops 
they had, for the purpose of making iriroads 
upon the enemy's provinces, leaving them, at 
a moment when if the President of the United 
States XV as to be credit ed^ they were in danger 
of invasion, to defend themselves. " Having re- 
ceived orders," says General Dearborn, in his 
letter to Governor Griswold, of the 15th of July, 
1812j ** to leave the sea- coast, and to repair to 
Albany — it becomes my duty again to request 
your Excellency to order out such part of your 
states' quota of militia, as the present state of the 
v.^ar requires.'*— "As other objects will require 
the service of a great part of the regular troops, 
it will become my duty to order them from the 
sea- board, and, of course, I muSt leave some 
part of the coast with less protection against 
those depredating parties of the enemy, that 
may attempt invasion for the mere purpose of 
plunder, than prudence would have justified, if 
a suitable number of the militia should not be 
ordered out in coilformity with the vievvs and 
intentions of the President of die United States." 
'''Other objects''' than the defence of the sea- 
coast — the thickly populated, and wealthiest part 
of the coimtry — required the service of the regu- 
lar troops, and so they were ordered away from 
that coast, in pursuit of those objects, and the 
whole burthen of defending that coast, against 

o 2 



162 

the calamities of a war, which the great body of 
the people in the eastern states considered as 
wantonly and wickedly made, was thrown upon 
themselves. At the same time, the national 
government was depriving those states of the 
means of self-defence, by exhausting them of 
their v^ealth by the most exorbitant taxes and 
pecuniary exactions, while, on its own part, it 
ceased to fulfil any one of the duties which, by 
the constitution, it owed to the states. In this 
situation, it required serious and solemn deliber- 
ation on the part of the states, to ascertain how 
long they could carry on the war, within their 
own domains, for the United States. 

2. This being the predicament in which those 
states w^ere placed, the second subject followed 
of necessity. Without the preservation of their 
resourses from ruin, they could not support the 
expenses and burthens, thusiniquitously thrown 
upon them by the national government. Should 
the war continue for any considerable length of 
time, of which there was every appearance — for 
it was not known to the country that the Presi- 
dent had ignominiously instructed the negocia- 
tors of peace to relinquish every thing that he 
had at first demanded, — nothing could be more 
certain than that those resources must soon be 
exhausted, and the states be left completely de- 
fenceless. This rendered it not onlj^ proper, 
but indispensably necessary, th^t chose states 
should consult on the subject. At the same 



163 

time, the instructions are cautiously framed, 
and with an express clause, that all was to be 
done •with reference to their obligations to the 
J§ union, 

3. To propose amendments to the constitution. 
If there is any thing criminal in a measure of 
that kind, there has been a great deal of polit- 
ical wickedness committed in the country — for 
almost every state in the union, and particularly 
every democratic state, has, first and last, pro- 
posed amendments to the constitution; and 
they are even now constantly doing it. The 
difference between their practice, and this pro- 
position, is, that they propose them just as their 
own individual whim or passion may dictate — - 
here, several states were to come together, and 
consult on the propriety and expediency of the 
proposed amendments. 

4. If such amendments should not be practi- 
cable, as the constitution now stands, the ques- 
tion was to be considered — Whether, without 
disadvantage to the nation^ a general convention 
could be called for the purpose of accomplish- 
ing the object. In the 5th article of the consti- 
tution, there is the following provision — *' The 
Congress^ on the application of the legislatures 
of two thirds of the several states^ shall call a 
convention for proposing amendments''^ — It 
would be gratifying, and possibly r.musivig, if 
the public mignt De mtormea, m wnat respect 
this part of the resolution was improper, or un- 



164 

constitutional ? Here, too, the convention were 
to have an eye to the national weal, in forming, 
their judgment and decision^they were to en- 
quire whether the ^^ experiment could be made 
without disadvantage to the nation.^'' 

The resolve of the Legislature of Connecti- 
cut, was in the following words — "" That seven 
persons be appointed Delegates from this state, 
to meet the Delegates of the Commonwealth of 
Massachusetts, and any other of the New-Eng- 
land states, at Hartford, on the 15th day of De- 
cember next, and confer with them on the sub- 
jects proposed by a resolution of said common- 
wealth, communicated to this Legislature, and 
upon any other subjects that may come before 
them, for the purpose, of devising and recom- 
mending such measures for tlie safety and wel- 
fare of these states, as may consist w i i h 

OUR OBLIGATIONS AS MEMBERS OF THE 
NATIONAL UNION." 

The Rhode-Island instructions are not in my 
possession — I am persuaded, however, that 
they were framed upon the same principles as 
those of Massachusetts and Connecticut. How 
ridiculous, as well as base is it then, for the 
worthless panders of a worthless cabinet, to 
pretend that tlie object of this convention was, 
a dissolution of the union. Like the infamous 
bribery of John Henry, and ten thousand other 
slanders against the New- England states, it 



165 ^ 

shews only the corruption and malignity of the 
administration and their supporters. 

Did the result of their deliberations and la- 
bours, shew any disposition, on their part, to 
divide the states ? This has never been pre- 
tended, even by the most devoted partizan of 
the cabinet, that has ever uttered his sentiments 
oh the subject. The report of the convention 
was made public immediately after their ad- 
journment. No state paper ever appeared in 
this country, that excited more curiosity or at- 
tention. No one it is believed, ever caused 
more disappointment, than this did in the hearts 
of those who professed to expect from their 
secret operations, the blackest treason. 

The report is finished with the following reso^ 

lutions : 

1. *' That it be and hereby is recommended 
to the legislatures of the several states represented 
in this convention, to adopt all such measures 
as may be necessary effextually to protect the 
citizens of said states, from the operation and 
effects of all acts which have been or may be 
passed by the Congress of the United States, 
which shall contain provisions, subjecting the 
militia to forcible drafts, conscriptions, or im- 
pressments, not authorized by the constitution 
of the United States. 

2. '' That it be and hereby is recommended 
to the said legislatures, to authorize. an imme- 
diate and earnest application to be made to the 



1^6 

government of the United States, requesting 
their consent to some arrangement, whereby the 
said states may, separately or in concert^ be em- 
povv-ered to assume upon themselves the de- 
fence of their territory against the enemy ; and 
a reasonable portion of thiC taxes, collected 
within such states may be paid into the respec- 
tive treasuries thereof, and appropriated to the 
payment of the balance due said states, and to the 
future defence of the same. The amount so 
paid into the said treasuries to be credited, and 
the disbursements made as aforesaid to be 
charged to the United States. 

3. " Tliat it be and it hereby is recommended 
to the several legislatures of the aforesaid states, 
to pass laws, (-vhere it has not been done,) 
autliorizing the Governors or Comm-jnders in 
Chief of their mihtia, to make detachments 
from the same, or to form voluntary corps, as 
shall be most convenient and conformable to 
their constitutions, and to cause the same to be 
well arm.ed, equipped and disciplined, and held 
in readiness for service ; and upon the request 
of the Governor of either of the other states to 
employ tlie Vvhole of su.ch detachment or corps, 
as well aS' the regular forces of the state, or such 
part thereof as may be required and can be 
spared, consistently with the safety of the state, 
in assisting the state making such request, to 
repel any invasion thereof wliich shall be made 
or attempted by llic public enemy. 



167 

4. " That the following amendments to the 
constitution of the United States, be recom- 
mended to the states represented as aforesaid, to 
be proposed by them for adoption by the state 
legislatures, and in such cases as may be deemed 
expedient by a convention chosen by the people 
of each state. 

" And it is further recommended, that the 
said states shall persevere in their efforts to 
obtain such am.endments, until the same shall 
be effected." 

AMENDMENTS PROPOSED. 

1. " Representatives and direct taxes shall be 
apportioned among the several states which 
may be included within this union, according to ' 
their respective numbers of free persons, in- 
cluding those bound to service for a term of 
years, and excluding Indians, not taxed, and all 
other persons. 

2. '' No new state shall be admitted into the 
union by Congress, in virtue of the power grant- 
ed by the constitution, without the concurrence 
of two- thirds of both houses. 

3. " Congress shall not have power to lay any 
embargo on the ships or vessels of the citizens 
of the United States, in the ports or harbours 
thereof, for more than sixty days. 

4. *' Congress shall not have power, without 
the concurrence of two-thirds of both houses, 



■168 

to interdict the commercial intercourse between 
the United States and any foreign nation or the 
dependencies thereof. 

5. " Congress shall not make or declare war, 
or authorize acts of hostility against any foreign 
nation without the concurrence of two-thirds of 
both houses, except such acts of hostility be in 
defence of the territories of the United States 
when actually invaded. 

6. " No person who shall hereafter be natu- 
ralized, shall be eligible as a member of the 
Senate or House of Representatives of the Unit- 
ed States, nor capable of holding any civil of- 
fice under the authority of the United States, 

7. " The same person shall not be elected 
President of the United States a second time, 
nor shall the President be elected from the same 
state two terms in succession." 

These resolutions form the result of the la- 
bours of the convention. It is desirable that 
some one of the multitude of noisy demagogues, 
who have spent so much time in heaping re- 
proaches upon that body, would be good enough 
to state what there is in this result, that is, in 
the least possible degree, hostile to the preser- 
vation of the union. So far is this from being 
the fact, diat its direct and immediate object is, 
to strengthen and perpetuate the union. 

The first resolution contains a recommenda- 
tion to the states there represented, to adopt 
measures effectually to guard their citizens 



169 

against the threatened conscription, impress- 
ment of seamen, and other unconstitutional 
acts that Congress had, or might enact. What- 
ever the effect of Such precautionary measures 
might be, they were solemn duties upon the 
state authorities — duties which could not be 
dispensed with, on their part, without a gross 
disregard of the rights of those who had clothed 
them with power, and in many instances, with- 
out a violation of their oaths of office. There 
was nothing in the nature of the recommenda- 
tion, which had any tendency to dissolve, or 
even to weaken the union. If it produced its 
proper effect, it would have weakened the con- 
^dence of the people in the men, whose politi- 
cal profligacy had a direct propensity to destroy 
the union. 

The second resolution was founded upon an 
express provision in the 10th section, of the 
first article of the constitution, w^hich says — 
'' No state shall, without the consent of Con- 
gress, keep troops or ships of war in time of 
peace, enter into any agreement or compact 
with another state, or with a foreign power, or 
engage in war, unless actually invaded, or in 
such imminent danger as will not admit delay." 
By the war wantonly brought upon them by the 
national government, the New- England states 
were placed in the most hazardous situation — 
the nation had withdravv^n all their protection, 
and the means of protection, and they were, by 

p 



170 

exorbitant taxes and excises, exhausting them 
of the means even of self-defence. In this sit- 
uation, the convention recommend the meas- 
ures proposed in this resokition. If there is any 
thing in them objectionable, it is that the lan- 
guage made use of towards a government from 
which they had received so much injustice, is 
not couched in tones sufficiently manly and de- 
cided. This objection, however, does not be- 
speak a disposition to destroy the constitution, 
or divide the states. 

The third resolution recommends the adoption 
of certain measures, not prohibited by the con- 
stitution of the United States, for the mutual 
safety of the states represented in the conven- 
tion, which the situation of the country, and the 
dangers of the war, apparently rendered indis- 
pensable. It is presumed that constitutional 
measures may be adopted, even in the New- 
England states, without subjecting them to the 
public vengeance of the ruling party. 

With regard to the various amendments pro- 
loosed to be made to the constitution, men may 
have different opinions, according to the views 
and motives by which these opinions are in- 
fluenced and governed. Those who wish well 
to the general interests and prosperity of the 
nation — vv^ho are desirous that the constitution 
should operate with equal benignity over the 
whole country — and above all, those who are 
desirous of extricating the power of the gov- 



171 

ernment from the hands of state usurpation, and 
open the passage to its distinguished honours 
ahke to every state — cannot reasonably object 
to them. Those who choose that the national 
interests should be sacrificed for those of ambi- 
tion and party spirit — who are willing to de- 
press, degrade, and impoverish, one part of the 
union, for the purpose of promoting the viev/s, 
subserving the interests, and gratifying a spirit of 
domination and oppression, in another part, 
will undoubtedly reject the whole. That they 
are just, proper, and expedient, cannot be 
questioned by any man who understands, and 
is a true friend to the interests of the United 
States. 

The clamour against the convention is not kept 
up at the present time, on the ground of any thing 
contained in their report. Nothing is said, 
amidst the universal democratic uproar, concern- 
ing the merits of that document. When it first 
made its appearance, there was a very general sen- 
timent of surprize and admiration, expressed 
over a large portion of the country — surprize that 
it contained nothing of what had been so lavishly 
predicted, and admiration at its dignity, mode- 
ration, and profound discussion of the national 
interests and policy. Many of the most ardent 
and enlightened partizans of the administration, 
with a ivankness that did them honour, declared 
their strong approbation of the judgment and 
ability with which it was executed. Its ob- 



172 

noxious character, in the view of the adminis- 
tration, arises from two circumstances — 1st. 
The strong and unanswerable reasoning -which 
it contains^ on the character and tendency of 
their measures — and, 2d. The alarming exam- 
ple which the assembling of such a body of men^ - 
on such a7i occasion, sets for future imi- 
tation. 

It is not known that any considerable attempt 
lias been made by the party writers, to contra- 
dict the statements, or refute the reasoning, con- 
tained in the report. Its force and pungency, 
however, were felt, not only by the administra- 
tion, but by the leaders of the party at large. 
It came " home to their business and bosoms," 
— it exposed their perverse, crooked, and cor- 
rupt policy, to the eyes of the country, and of 
the world — it searched the recesses of the cabi- 
net *' as with candles,^'' This short description 
of its character, discloses a sin against the ad- 
ministration, past all forgiveness. It is not be- 
cause a man offends against the constitution of 
liis country, that he becomes unpopular with 
the present administration — it is not that he may 
meditate mischief, or even treason, against the 
liberties of his country, that he is rendered 
odious and proscribed. It is when he opposes 
the administration, betrays their frauds and 
falsehoods, discloses their projects of air-bition 
and usurpation, and exposes their corruption 
and profligacy. Such a man will be sure to 



175 

meet with the deep reprobation of them and 
their partizans. This is the heinous crime of 
the convention. With a bold and masterly 
pencil, they drew a full length portrait of the 
cabinet, displaying, in the colours of truth, all 
its features of intrigue, usurpation, and despot- 
ism- The likeness is too strong to be mistaken 
by the most superficial observer. But the 
ARTISTS will never be forgiven. (5 ) 

Nor is the precedent less obnoxious or alarm- 
ing. When the administration found that the 
convention was not only appointed, but was 
actually assembled, they were most thoroughly 
alarmed. Conscious of their own guilt in mak- 
ing a war for such wicked purposes, and of the 
extreme injustice of their measures towards the 
New- England states in the mode of carrying it 
on, they trembled in their palaces for fear of the 
result. They dreaded the provision of that 
article of the constitution, which furnishes the 
states with the remedy against a corrupt admin- 
istration, and a spirit of usurpation and lawless 
domination in individuals or states, by directing 
Congress to call a general convention, upon the 
application of two-thirds of the states, for pro- 
posing amendments, well knowing, that it would 
be extremely easy, by a few alterations in that 
instrument, to put an end to encroachments on 
the state sovereignties, and to all undue influence 
in ambitious and aspiring states. The timely 
arrival of the news of peace, alone, relieved 

p 2 



174 

them from their embarrassment and agitation 
from fear of the convention. So great had been 
the alarm, that, as a thunder-storm or an earth- 
quake, has frequently arrested a bold and auda- 
cious sinner in his guilty career of iniquity, so 
the convention brought the administration, for 
a moment, to a sense of justice towards the 
'New- England states. For the purpose of remu- 
nerating them for the expenses which the war 
had brought upon them, a bill was suddenly 
brought into the Senate, and passed rapidly 
through, by an unanimous vote : and there is no 
question of its having passed into a law, had its 
progress not been stayed by the intelligence of 
peace. Availing themselves of the general joy 
at the recurrence of that event — joy, which un- 
der the circumstances, served only to prove, 
that the nation at large considered the war as the 
greatest calamity, and the severest scourge, that 
had ever befallen the country — ^and the excite- 
ment produced by another event, in the glory of 
which they were very eager to participate, 
though they were not entitled to a particle of its 

jnerit — the repulse at New- Orleans they 

immediately relapsed to their customaiy spirit 
of vindictive hostility to those states, stopped 
the bill in the House of Representatives, and 
from that day to this^ have unjustly denied them 
the repayment of the money expended in de^ 
fending the country. 



175 

Entertaining sentiments and views hostile to 
the independence of the states, and aiming by 
gradual inroads, eventually to destroy their gov- 
ernments, and consolidate the whole into a na- 
tional government, it is perfectly natural for 
such men as compose the administration, to 
feel a strong degree of animosity, as well as ven- 
geance, towards any number of men, or any 
portion of the country, which may shevv a dis- 
position to stop their progress, or to defeat their 
designs. This disposition has manifested itself, 
hitherto, in but few places— -and principally in 
New- England. Towards these states, the 
strongest resentment is entertained. To such 
lengths has this resentment and hostility pro- 
^ ceeded, that the New- England states are the 
subject of the scoffs and taunts of the minions 
of the party, in addition to their sufferings under 
the disgraceful peace, and the more disgraceful 
convention with Gpeat Britain. By these ar- 
rangements with that nation, the most important 
interests of those states are sacrificed, and a 
large portion of the country is to a great degree 
impoverished and degraded — and when they 
venture to complain, they are coolly reminded, 
that they deserve all they suffer, as a reward for 
their opposition to the war — a sentiment better 
becoming the mouth of a ferocious demagogue, 
than the chief magistrate of a large and enlight^ 
cned nation. 



176 

Base and unprincipled as it is, it is still just 
such an one as might be expected, from rulers, 
however exalted their station, whose minds rise 
no higher in the scale of patriotic virtue, than 
to think and act merely as the leaders of a party. 
Demagogues are always vicious, vindictive, and 
corrupt. Their plans being always selfish, are 
invariably executed by tools and parasites, who 
find their own reward in the favours of their 
master ; and they, of course, consult his interest, 
at the expense of the well-being of the country. 
Such an administration, thus supported, will 
never hesitate at sacrificing not only individuals, 
but communities, if they thwart them in their 
schemes of domination. The times, however, 
must be degenerate indeed, and the people crim- 
inally inattentive to their highest social duties, 
as well as interests, when such men dare to 
avow their detestable principles and motives in 
the face of the world. 

The system which was adopted by Mr. Jeffer- 
son, to procure his own elevation to power, and 
which, under his auspices, has been ever since 
pursued by his supporters, successors, and fol- 
lowers, was a system of slander. He began to 
calumniate the virtues of Washington ; and 
having established so important an example of 
the efficacy of his scheme, it was no difficult 
matter to extend its agency so far, as to com- 
prehend, within the scope of its influence, every" 
virtuous and influential friend and disciple of 



177 

Washington. This simple machine has pro-' 
diiced notable effects. Not only the patriots of 
the revolution — the men who jeoparded their 
lives in the high places of the field to achieve 
our independence, whilst he was skulking from 
the distant approaches of danger — have been 
made the victims of his malicious slanders ; but 
the very men who framed, supported, and estab- 
lished, the present system of national govern- 
ment, against all the opposition he was able to 
bring against it, have long been reproached by 
him and his partizans, as the enemies of that 
very government which they thus formed, and 
he opposed. Nay, they are traduced as the 
friends of a government, from tlie control of 
which, many of them personally assisted^ 
through great dangers and sufferings, in extricat- 
ing the country. This system of falsehood and 
calumny, has been attended with its natural 
companions — fraud and cunning. At the same 
time, the people are flattered, deceived, and be- 
trayed. At one time, they are made to believe 
that a public debt is a curse ; a navy an instru- 
ment of tyranny ; an army the deadly enemy of 
freedom ; taxes an intolerable burthen upon a 
free people ; and executive patronage the source 
of the most fatal corruption. At another, the 
same people who persuaded them to adopt the 
foregoing train of sentiments and opinions, find- 
ing it expedient to change their tune, increase 
the public debt to fourfold the size it was at 



178 

when they thus complained of it ; enlarge the 
navy in the same proportion ; treble the num- 
bers of the army ; and extend patronage, to a 
degree at least ten, and perhaps twenty fold, 
beyond what it was, and then convince the 
same people, not only that all is proper, but that 
it is all compatible with their former professions 
and practice. 

These gross and palpable contradictions, pass 
unheeded by the people, because they suffer 
their passions to be inflamed, and their resent- 
ments to be enkindled, by low, designing, and 
wicked men, and their judgment and reflection 
to be entirely led astray, or perverted. The 
moral standard of the government, in this way, 
becomes lov/ered and debased, the people, find- 
ing it stripped of its respectability and dignity, 
lose their respect for its character, and easily 
are brought to view it as an object of speculation 
and interest, and not as the basis of national 
prosperity and happiness. The government 
being taken out of the hands of statesmen, and 
patriots, falls naturally into those of demagogues, 
and partizans — men of low habits, loose princi- 
ples, and depraved understandings as viell as 
hearts, gain influence and ascendency ; the pub- 
lie taste becomes vitiated, the public morals 
contaminated, the public welfare entirely disre- 
garded, and individual interest, and individual 
aggrandizement, the only objects of government- 
al solicitude. 



179 

The nation must be elevated from this state 
of degradation and debasement, or its constitu- 
tion and liberties, will, it is to be feared at no 
very distant period, fall a sacrifice. One step 
towards its safety will be, to purge its councils 
ivom foreign influence. By foreign influence, is 
not meant the scheme of regulating our political 
concerns with reference to the affairs of Euro- 
pean nations. It is the influence which low, un- 
educated, and unprincipled foreigners — desper- 
ate adventurers from Europe — have been suffer- 
ed to gain in our national concerns. If persons 
of this description would be contented peaceably 
to pursue their private occupations, and not 
undertake to manage those of the nation, no 
person would object to their enjoying the rites of 
hospitality, to which, as strangers, they might be 
fairly entitled. But when they assume the cha- 
racter of public teachers in the science of gov- 
ernment, and attempt to instruct us in the prin- 
ciples of freedom, their conduct bespeaks a de- 
gree of assurance, which ought to be met with 
universal contempt and indignation. Such 
men, being useful to Mr. Jefferson, and to those 
who have succeeded him in power, have, how- 
ever, become highly influential members in our 
political organization — they form our taste, cha- 
racterize our manners, and give tone and stan- 
dard to our political morals, and notions of gov- 
ernment. The nation must be placed out of 
the reach and control of this description of men, 



180 

before its government will be well administered, 
or its constitution and liberties be free from dan- 
ger. C6) x\n other circumstance of no small 
importance to our well being, is, that the peo- 
ple should learn duly to estimate, and faith- 
fully to watch over, the state governments. The 
national government has strong temptations to se- 
duce the ambitious, and gratify the cupidity of 
those, whose principles are not founded in virtue 
and a genuine attachment to national freedom. 
But the state governments are the sources of 
our security and happiness, and the bulwarks 
of our liberties. Should this ever become a 
consolidated government, its next step would 
almost necessarily be — a monarchical govern- 
ment. No government short of the energy of a 
monarchy, could without the aid of the state 
governments, manage the affairs of this exten- 
sive nation. No set of legislators could frame 
a code of laws, or establish courts of justice, 
which would apply to the various habits and 
sentiments of so variegated a people. The con- 
cerns of the states, now perfectly familiar to 
their own governments, would utterly perplex 
a national legislature. It will never be the fact, 
that the states will agree to a consolidation. If 
it shall ever be accomplished, it will be by grad- 
ual usurpation, or by open force and violence. 
The only mode of guarding against such a ca- 
tastrophe, is TO GUARD THE SOVEREIGNTY 

AND INDEPENDENCE OF THE STATES, EvC- 



181 

ry encfoacliment, however small and apparent- 
ly insignificant, should be most cautiously 
watched, and promptly resisted. The powers 
of the national government are well defined, and 
described in the constitution, and there is not 
the least danger of any important mistakes with 
respect to their extent, or limits. Sly construc- 
tion, or open usurpation, are the modes in which 
those powers will be enlarged, and the state 
sovereignties endangered. Jealousy on this sub- 
ject, in the states, is the first of political duties. 

Among all the modes of evading the constitu- 
tion, that which has for its object the monopoly, 
in a single state, of the office of chief magistrate, 
seems to have passed along with less attention 
on the part of the people, and to have excited a 
slighter degree of alarm in the public mind, than 
its importance deserves. Let the states beware 
of this grand scheme of domination and suprem- 
acy. It is already considered by the heads of it 
as a usage — it will soon be claimed by them as 
a law, 

I am not disposed to dismiss this subject, widi- 
out turning the public attention, m*ore pointedly 
to one topic, which has been already inciden- 
tally mentioned* It deserves a more particular 
consideration. 

For sixteen years past, the national govern- 
ment has not been administered with reference to 
the welfare of the nation — the great ob- 

lECT IN VIEW HAS BEEN INDIVIDUAL AD- 



182 

VANTAGE. Mr. Jefferson and Mr- Madison h^^ve 
obvoiusl3^ considered the government as intended 
for heir personal benefit — not for the good of the 
public. This proposition will, by a little attention 
to the subject, be rendered perfectly clear to the 
understanding of every man, whose feelings are 
not too highly excited by party zeal, or whose 
mind is not darkened by the most stubborn pre- 
judice. Mr. Jefferson came into office by the force 
of clamour against federal measures. He slander- 
ed the leaders of that party, from General Wash- 
ington downward, as long as he could find tal- 
ents or influence on which to vent his defama- 
tory malice, and having succeeded in rendering 
them objects of suspicion, he found it an easy 
task to subject their measures to popular 
odium and reproach. To secure the ground 
v/hich he had thus acquired in the public favour, 
he found it necessary to undo, as far as was 
practicable, all that federalists had done ; and 
to substitute in the place of their polic5^ a series 
of the most absurd and ridiculous schemes., 
that ever were devised or proposed by the head 
of a nation. Among the measures which he 
deemed it expedient to overthrow, the system. of 
internal revenue stands pre-eminent. The op- 
eration of that system, in one state, had produc- 
ed an insurrection. A tax on their darling li- 
quor, whisky, was a burthen not to be borne, 
and the uncivilized inhabitants of the wilds of 
Pennsylvani:?, stimulated by tlie arts and in- 



183 

trigues of a feAV desperate and designing men, 
broke out into open rebellion against the laws of 
their country. To this source of popularity 
and power, Mr. Jefferson eagerly turned his at- 
tention. It was a prime article in his political 
creed (and he had no other) to gain the favour 
of the licentious, and the desperate. With these 
rebellious banditti, he entered into a contract, 
that if they would support his pretensions to the 
Presidency, he would, if successful, recommend 
the abolition of the system of internal revenue. 
They did support him — he succeeded — and in 
fulfilment of his engagement, and not on the 
ground of merit or demerit in the system, he re- 
commended its repeal, and it, of course, was 
repealed — and what is still more extraordinary, 
one of the principal ringleaders of the insurrec- 
tion, a foreigner, and a needy adventurer, was 
immediately after his election, placed by Mr. 
|t Jefferson at the head of the most important de~ 
partment in the administration of the govern- 
ment. As this measure was entered into by 
Mr. Jefferson upon the grounds I have stated, 
and as the party have since re-established a sim- 
ilar system of internal revenue, varying it only 
by rendering it vastly more severe and oppres- 
sive, there is no hazard in saying, that in pursuing- 
this course, he was actuated altogether by self- 
ish and sinister motives, and not by a regard for^ 
the public good. (7) 
The judiciary of the United States, as orga- 



184 

Dized under the federal administration, fell a 
victim to the same spirit in this great leader of 
democracy. And if any person is disposed to 
wade through the course of his administration, i 
am m.uch deceived if he does not find evidence, 
in support of my proposition, at every step. 
Mr. Jefferson could not, with safety to his spu- 
rious popularity, pursue the track of his more 
able, wise, and virtuous federal predecessors, 
without shewing, even to his impassioned and 
credulous admirers, the hollow-heartedness of 
his professions of regard for the good of the peo- 
ple. He was therefore under a degree of neces- 
sity to adopt a different course, which, though 
it might make him ridiculous with men of dis- 
cernment, would answer well enough to deceive 
an admiring host of hungry expectants of office, 
and of great national good from his Presidency. 
Accordingly, in the course of eight years, he 
rung all the changes, and recommended all the 
varieties, of political absurdity and folly. And 
when, at the end of that period, he was "gathered 
to his fathers/' he left behind him no traces of 
his administration, except inthe prostration of his 
country's honour, the embarassments thrown 
in the way of private industry, and the sacrifice 
of the public prosperity. It is a remarkable fact, 
one that may safely challenge the history of na- 
tions to produce its parallel, that this man should 
have been able to conduct the affairs of an in- 
telligent nation for eight years, with great 



185 

popularity, and then leave the chair of statq 
without any diminution of character, without 
leaving behind him, on the public records of the 
country, a single permanent political measure. 
No other man ever gained the reputation of an 
illustrious statesman under like circumstan- 
ces — it is believed, that no other well informed 
people were ever s(^ easily duped or so grossly 
deluded. 

But the proof of the correctness of my prop- 
osition is not altogether derived from this 
source. On what ground have Mr. John Ran- 
dolph, Mr. Robert Smith, Mr. De Witt Clinton, 
and others, who have heretofore ranked high on 
the muster roll of the legions of democracyj 
been discarded from the councils of the party, 
and been the subjects of such violent con- 
tumely? Not because they have renounced 
their political faith, and adopted the tenets of 
federalism. Each of them has, tliroughout, 
claimed to himself all the merit of undeviating 
perseverance in the path of modern republican- 
ism. But they have, directly or indirectly, at 
different times, expressed doubts of the infalli- 
bility of Jefferson and Madison. This instantly 
marked them for destruction ; and the unrelent- 
ing spirit of democratic persecution follovvs 
them in public life and in retirement, with the 
same zeal and perseverance, as the huntsman 
pursues the wolf or the panther, on \vho§e head. 

q.2 



186 

,the laws of his country have fixed a pecuniai^ 
premium. 

Why have the governments of the New- Eng- 
land states, been the constant theme of re- 
proach and calumny, not only during the war, 
but long antecedent to that event, with the pha- 
lanx of democracy ? The affairs of these states, 
under the administration of federalists, have 
been managed upon the same principles, that 
they have been from the earliest periods of their 
liistorj^. — that is, with a strict reference to the 
public good, and in faithful pursuance of the 
principles of their constitutions. The true an- 
swer lies in the fact, that — x heir measures 

WERE OPPOSED TO THE PERSONAL VIEWS 
AND INTERESTS OF JeFFERSON AND MaD- 

isoN. This has placed them out of the pale of 
die national constitution and government, re- 
duced them to the condition of vassal provinces, 
and degraded them to the abject state of tributa- 
ries to their ambitious and domineering neigh- 
bours. Have not Massachusetts, Connecticut, 
and Rhode-Island, performed their duties to the 
United States, even to the prompt and fiuthful 
payment of the oppressive exactions of the late 
war, u'ith punctilious exactness ? What, then, 
has the nation, as such, to complain of in their 
conduct ? Their transgression lies in this — that 
they have not contributed to the persona! glory 
and aggrandizement of the two great chiefs of 
democracy. Wliy was Monroe — the dull, in- 



187 

competent Monroe^ — for a while the subject of 
democratic reproach and persecution ? Because 
he manifested a disposition to place himself 
before the nation as a rival to Madison. 
Why did the tide of party clamour respecting 
him, suddenly change, and he become the ob- 
ject of high popular favour and admiration ? 
Because he was bought off from the field of 
opposition, and placed in the line of succession, 
as the heir of the virtues and talents of his polit- 
ical sire and grand- sire. In short, the history of 
the government, for the whole period under con- 
sideration, furnishes no instance of regard for 
the great interests of the nation — it contains, on 
the contrary, an abundance, to shew the truth of 
my proposition. . 

If this be a just representation of the princi- 
ples on which the government of this country, 
has been for so many years past administered, 
is it not high time for the people to take the sub- 
ject into serious consideration, and to apply a 
speedy and effectual remedy to the evil. What 
constitutes a despotism, but the fact, that the 
government where it exists is made to operate 
solely for the benefit of the individual in whose 
hands the power of executir.g ii is lodged? 
Let us not be deceived by mere names. A four- 
years President, with all the advantages which un- 
bounded patronage, and a plentiful treasury can 
furnish him, can become as practical a despot, 
as the most absolute sovereign* Could the pco- 



188 

pie of this country once be made to believe,, 
that they were enormously burdened, by direct 
and indirect taxes, for the purpose of paying the 
salaries of an army of office-holders, who are 
growing rich on their earnings, and are rioting 
in luxury and extravagance, by the means of 
wealth drawn from their pockets, there cannot 
be a doubt that the madness and blindness of 
party passion would give way to a regard for 
themselves, as well as for their country, and diat 
they would exact from those who thus prey upon 
their estates, as well as upon their credulity, 
some other proofs of public spirit, than mere 
hypocritical professions of regard for the princi- 
ples of republicanism, and the welfare of the 
sovereign people. - 

It will be readily perceived, that it has not 
been my intention to go at large into the het- 
erogenous mass of disjointed materials, of 
which the " Oiive-Branch," is, in a great meas- 
ure, composed. It is, to a considerable extent, 
made up of gleanings from pamphlets, news- 
papers, and documents, selected for the pur^ 
poses of misrepresentation, and arranged in 
their present order with a malicious design to 
slander the federalists generally, and particularly 
those of the New'- England states. There is not 
a mark of genuine candour, of talent, or of 
genius, in the volume — nor scarcely one of po- 
litical integrity. In point of composition, it is 
;beneath criticism. The style is a mixture of 



189 

affected learning, of revolutionary cant, and of 
democratic vulgarity. Doubts were, for a while 
expressed, particularly by one political writer 
of considerable celebrity, of its origin, even 
after it was avowed by its acknowledged author. 
I On what ground those doubts rested, it is not 
easy to discern. There is nothing extraordinary 
in the book, except marks of some industry, a 
part of which it seems was borrowed, in collect- 
ing the materials, of excessive vanity in the au- 
thor, and of extreme bitterness and malignity 
towards those who have opposed the measures 
of the democratic administration of the national 



government. 



NOTES. 



(1) Among ihe long list of impudent attempts on 
the part of the democrats, to rob the federalists of their 
Avell-earned reputation, and to assume to themselves 
the merit of federal measures, one of the most bare- 
faced respects the sale of the armed ships of the United 
States, by Mr. Jefferson, in the first year of his Presi- 
dency. The universal, and deadly opposition of the 
party to a navy, not only vyhile the administration of the 
government was in federal hands, but for many years after 
they came into power, although well known to every 
person who is old enough to have been cojnversant with 
the political affairs of the country, at thai period, has not 
force enough to prevent their newspaper writers from 
charging that sale to the federalists. Just at the close 
of Mr. Adams* Presidency, and long after Mr. Jeffer- 
son*s election, as his successor, had taken place, Con- 
gress passed an act of which the following is the Is 
section. 

"Be it enacted, he That the President of the United 
States be, and he hereby is authorized, whenever the 
situation of the }iublic affairs shall in his ofunion render 
it exjiedicnt^ to cause to be sold, they boing first di- 
vested of their guns and military stores, which are to 
be carefully preserved, all or any of the ships and ves- 
sels belonging to the nary, except the frigates United 



192 NOTES. 

States, Constitution, President, Chesapeake, Philadel- 
phia, Constelialion, Congress, New-York, Boston, Es- 
sex, Adams, John Adams, and General Greene; and 
also to lay up all the frigates thus to be retained, except 
such as are directed by this act to be kept in constant 
service in time of peace." 

This act was approved and signed by President 
Adams, on the 3d of March, 1801 — the last day of his 
Presidency. The power granted in it, could not, of 
course, be intended to be exercised by him. Ic ivas 
solely left to Mr. Jefferson's discretion. If he had been 
disposed to increase, instead of diminishing the nav 
or even to preserve what ships there were then on 
hand, he was under no obligation to sell a single vessel. 
He, therefore, acted his own discretion, and is exclu- 
sively responsible for the sale. If any thing further 
were necessary to place this transaction on democratic 
shoulders, it may be remarked, that upon taking the 
final question on the bill, from which the foregoing sec- 
lion is taken, in the House of Representatives, eveu 
democratic member voted in the affirmative. 

(2) I have heard it said, that some democrats, pressed 
with the fact, that the British government were desirous 
of renewing Mr. Jay*s treaty, but that Mr. Jefferson re- 
fused it, have denied that such a disposition was ever 
entertained by that government. When the present 
state of our commerce is taken into consideration, and 
u comparison is made between our present situation, 
and that in which the country was placed by that treaty, 
it is not surprising that the party should wish to avoid 
the confession thsii we might havt had that treaty renew- 
ed. On such an occasion, it is always well to appeal to 
evidence, especially that kind of evidence which is fur- 



NOTES. 193 

nished by an opponent. The following extracts from 
the official correspondence between our minister-^in 
London, and the then Secretary of State, may tliroAV 
some light on this subject. 

Extract of a letter from Mr. Monroe to Mr. Madi- 
son, London, April 15th, 1804, giving an account of 
an interview with Lord Hawkesbury — 

" His lordship did not bind himself to say any thing it 
is true ; he even went so far as to express a wish that 
the firindjiles of our treaty of 1794, might be adopted i?l 
the present convention^ where they applied^ and an ex- 
pectation, that the accommodation which had been giv- 
en in certain cases to the northern powers should be 
stipulated in our favour, that we should accord fully 
■what they had yielded in return. Although I was very 
desirous to do justice to the moderate and friendly views 
of our government on the occasion, yet I did not fail to 
give him to understand that I could not accede to his idea 
in either case," 

Extracts from a letter from Mr. Monroe to Mr, 
Madison, London, August 7th, 1804— 

" I received a note from Lord Harrowby on the 3d 
instant, requesting me to call on him at his office the 
next day, which I did. His lordship asked me in what 
light was our treaty viewed by our government. I re- 

¥ plied that it had been ratified with the exception of the 
5th article, as I had informed him on a former occasion. 
He observed that he meant the treaty of 1794, which 

'^ by one of its stipulations, was to expire two years after 
the signature of preliminary articles for concluding the 
then existing war between Great Britain and France. 

R 



194 NOTES. 

He wished to know whether we considered the treaty as 
actually expired. I said, that I did presume there 
could be but one opinion on that point in respect to 
the commercial part of the treaty, which was, that 
it had expired ; that other ariicles had been executed, 
but that then, being limited to a definite period which 
had passed, must be considered as expiring with it. 

" What then, says he, is the subsisting relation be- 
tween the two countries ? Are we in the state we were 
in at the close of the American war ? By what rule is 
cur intercourse to be governed respecting imposts, ton- 
nage and the like ? I said that the law in each country, 
as I presumed, regulated these points. He replied 
that the subject was under some embarrassment here. 
He asked hoiv far it would be agreeable to our govern" 
vient to stifiulate, that the treaty of 1794, shduld re- 
main in force until two years should expire after the con- 
elusion of the fire sent war ? I told his lordship, that I 
had uo flower to agree to such a firofiosal ; that the Pre- 
sident, animated by a sincere desire to cherish and per- 
petuate the friendly relations subsisting between the two 
countries, had been disfiosed to fiostfione the regulation 
' of their general commercial system-^ till the fieriod should 
arrive^ when each party ^ enjoying the blessings offieacey 
might find itself at liberty to pay the subject the atten- 
tion it merited" — 

" He then added, that his government might probably ^ 
for the present^ adofit the treaty of 1794, as ihe rule of 

its own concernsy or in respect to duties on importations 
from our country-^ and, as I understood him, all other 

subjects to vhich it extended ; in which case, he said, if 



NOTES. . 1$5 

t^e treaty had expired^ the ministry would take the re- 
sjionsibility on itself^ as there would be no law to sanction 
the measure : that in so doing, he presumed, that the 
measure would be well received by our govermnent and 
a similar firacticcy in what concerned Great Britain, re- 
cifirocated. I observed, that on that particular topic I 
had no authority to say any thing sfiecially^ the firofiosal 
being altogether new and unexp.ected ; that I should com- 
municate it to you ; and that I doubted not it would bo 
considered bv the President with the attention it merit- 
ed JVbr wishing^ hotvever^ to authorize an inference^ 
that that treaty should ever form a basis of a future one 
|fe between the two countries^ I repeated some remarks 
which I had, made to Lord Hawkesbury in the interview 
which we had, just before he left the department of for- 
eign affairs ; by observing, that injorming a nevj treaty^ 
we must begin de novo ; that America was a you?ig and 
thriving country : that at the time that treaty was forni' 
erf, she had had little exjierience of her relations with 

foreign flowers ; that ten years had since elapsed^ a great 
portion of the term within which she had held the rank 
of a separate and independent nation, and exercised the 
powers belonging to it j that our interests were better 
understood on both sides at this time than they then were ; 
that the treaty was known to conta'm things that neither 
liked; that I sfioke with confidence on that point, oil 
our part ; that in making a new treaty we might ingraft 

from that into it what suited usy omit what we disliked, 
and add what the experience of our respective interests 
might suggest to be proper ; and being equally anxious 
to preclude the inference of any sanction to the maritime 
pretensions of Great Britain under that treaty, in 
respect to neutral co?7i?nercey I deemed it proper to ad- 



196 NOTES. 

vert again to the firoject^ which 1 had firescnted some 
time sinccy for the regulation of those points, to notice 
its contents, and express an earnest wish, that his 
lordship would find leisure, and be disposed to act on it." 

Here it seems, that the wish to renew that treaty was 
pressed upon us by too successive ministers ; and so 
desirous of doing it was Lord Harrowby, that he offered 
lo place the responsibility of acting according to its 
principles upon the British cabinet. He was, however, 
informed by Mr. Monroe, that in making another treaty, 
i( ive viust begin de novo" — that we were young when 
that treaty was made, and were now ten years older, 
and understood our concerns better — that is, in plain 
English, Mr. Jefferson was a wiser man^ and a greater 
statesman than General Washington, and Mr. Monroe 
an abler negociator than Mr. Jay — and so we refused to 
have any thing to do with the offer. The practical 
comment on this superior wisdom and talent, is to be 
found in the following extract from President Madison's 
final message to congress, at the opening of the ses- 
sion in December, 1816. 

f* The depressed state of our navigation is to be ascrib- 
ed, in a material degree, to its exclusion from the colo- 
nial parts of the nation most extensively connected with 
us in commerce, and from the indirect operation of that 
exclasion. 

" Previous to the late convention at London, between 
the United States and Great Britain, the relative state 
of the navigation laws of the two countries, growing 
out of the treaty of 1794, had given to the British navi- 
gation a material advantage over the American, in the 



NOTES, 197 

intercourse between the American ports and British 
portsiii Europe, The convention of London equalized the 
laws of the two countries, relating to those ports ; leaving 
the intercourse between our ports and the ports of the 
British colonies, subject, as before, to the respective re- 
gulations of the parties. The British government, en- 
forcing, now, regulations which prohibit a trade be- 
tween its colonies and the United States, in American 
vessels, whilst they permit a trade in British vessels, 
the American navigation loses accordingly ; and the loss 
is augmented by the advantage which is given to the 
British competition over the American in the navigation 
between oar ports and British ports in Europe, by the 
circuitous voyages, enjoyed by the one, and not enjoy- 
ed by the other." 

(3) Lewis was recalled from the frontier with dis- 
grace, and stationed at the City of New- York, to defend 
the most important position in the United States. No 
greater insult was ever offered to a body of people, than 
in this instance, by entrusting the great emporium of 
the United Slates, threatened as it was with an attack 
for months together, with a man, whose talents had 
been found incompetent to the task of invading Canada, 
And after all, it is by no means clear, that Lewis does 
n<j)t possess greater military talents than some men who 
have met with much better treatment from the govern- 
ment. I would sooner trust him to conduct a campaign 
than Brown, if the object in view was of any greater 
importance than a smuggling party. Nor is it easv to 
perceive by what scale of merit men were measured, 
when Lewis was superseded at New-York, by his Ex- 
cellency Daniel D. Tompkins, as military commander 

R 2 



198 NOTES. 

at that station. Surely it was not science nor expe- 
rience—for as it regards the first, it is doubtful whether 
his Excellency ever siudied through his military horn- 
book, and as for experience, it is not recollected that 
he ever was in any greater danger than when, at a re- 
view, his horse threw him into a ditch and sprained his 
thumb. That appointment, however, might possibly 
have been in part payment for his obsequiousness in 
surrendering the militia of the state to the President of 
the United States, to be dealt with as he saw fit. 

As his Excellency is receiving the second instalment 
due to him tor his fidelity to the national adminisrration, 
by being elevat>^d to the Vice Presidency, he will for 
four years to come be too great a man to be called to 
account for the derangement of the finances of ihe. 
state, during the war, and for the prostration of its dig- 
nity, character and infiuence, at the feet of Virginia, 
for the purpose of securing his own popularity and 
promotion. 

Whatever else may be said of liis Excellency, as an 
officer, he was at least as njuch beneath Lewis, as Lewi* 
was beneath General Washington. 

(4) Circular to the respective Governors of the fol- 
lowing states. 

« IVar Deparimenfy July 4th, 18]4. 

ii' Sir, 

" The late pacification in Europe, offers to the 
enemy a large disposable force, both naval and military, 
*and with it the means of givin^^ to the war here, a cha- 
racter of new and increased activity and extent. 
" Without knowing with certainty that such will be 



NOTES- 199 

its application, and still less that any particular point or 
points will become the objects of attack, the President 
has deemed it advisable, as a measure of precaution, 
to strengthen ourselves on the lin? of the Atlantic, and 
(as the principal means of doing this will be found in 
the militia,) to invite the executive of certain sutes to 
organize and hold in readiness, for immediate service^ 
a corps of 93,500 men, under the lavi^s ot February, 
1795, and the 18th of April, 1814. 

« The enclosed detail will show your Excellency 
what, under thib requisition will be the quota of 

*' As far as volunteer uniform companies can be 
found, they will be preferred. 

« The expediency of regarding (as well in the desig- 
nations of the xnilitia as of their places of rendezvous) 
the points, the importance or the exposure of which 
will be most likely to attract the views of the enemy, 
need but be suggested. 

" A report of the organization of your quota, when 
completed, and of its place or places of rendezvous, 
will be acceptable. 

" I have the honor to be, &c. 
(Signed) « JOHN ARMSTRONG." 

^^ His Excellency the Governor of 
" Deiviil of militia service, under the requisition of 

July 4, 1814. — Neu'-Hampshire, Sec '* • 
" Connecticut, 3 regiments, viz 300 artillery, 2700 in- 
fantry — total 3000. General Staff, I Major General^ 
1 Brigi\dier General. 1 Deputy Quarter Master Gen- 
eral, 1 Assistant Adjutant General " 
(5) The report of the Hartford Convention, having 
never been published in any other form than in 
pamphlets and newspapers, it is thought of sufficient 



200 KOTES. 

importance lo be placed in a situation less liable to be 
passed by and forgotten, it is therefore inserted in this 
Appendix. 

REPORT, Sec. 

THE Delegates from the Legislatures of the States of 
Massachusetts, Connecticut, and Rhode-Island, and 
from the Counties of Grafton and Cheshire in the 
State of New-Hampshire and the County of Windham 
in the State of Vermont, assembled in Convention, 
beg leave to report the following result of their con- 
ference. 

THE Convention is deeply impressed with a sense 
of the arduous nature of the commission which they 
were appointed to execute, of devising the means of de- 
fence against dangers, and of relief from oppressions 
proceeding from the acts of their own Government, 
without violating constitutional principles, or disappoint- 
ing the hopes of a sufffring and injured people. To 
prescribe patience and firmness to those who are already 
exhausted by distress^ is sometimes to drive them to 
despair, and the progress towards reform by the regular 
road, s irksome to those whose imaginations discern, 
and whose feelings prompt, to a shorter course — But 
when abuses, reduced to system and accumulated 
through a course of years, have pervaded every depart- 
ment of Government, and spread corruption through 
every region of the State ; when these are clothed with 
the forms of law, and enforced by an Executive whose 
will is their source, no summary means of relief can be 
applied without recourse to direct and open resistance. 
This experiment, even when justifiable, cannot fail to 



NOTES. 201 

be painful to the good citizen ; and the success of the 
effort: will be no security against the danger of the exam- 
ple. Precedents of resistaijce to the worst adniinistri- 
tion, are eagerly seized by those who are naturally hos- 
tile to the best. NectssUy aione can sanction a resort 
to this measure ; unci it should never be extended in 
duration or degree bey<..nd the exigency, until the peo- 
ple, not merely in the fervour of sudden excitement,, 
but after full deliberaiion, are detei mined to change the 
Constitution. 

It is a truth, not to be concealed, that a sentiment 
prevails to no inconsiderable extent, that Administra- 
tion have given such constructions to that instrument, 
and practised so many abuses under colour of its author- 
ity, that the time for a change is at hand. Those who 
so believe, regard the evils which surround them as in • 
t rinsic and incurable defects in the Constitution. They 
I yield to a persuasion, that no change, at any time, or on 
any occasion, can aggravate the misery of their country. 
This opinion may ultimately prove to be correct. But 
as the evidence on wiiich it rests is not yet conclusive, 
and as measures adopted upon the assumption of its 
certainty might be irrevocable, some general conside- 
rations are submitted, in the hope of reconciling all. to a 
course of moderation and firmness, which may save 
them from the regret incident to sudden decisions, pro- 
bably avert the evil, or at least insure consolation and 
success in the last resort. 

The Constitution of the United States, under the au- 
spices of a wise and virtuous Administration, proved it- 
self competent to all the objects of national prosperity, 
comprehended in the views of its framers. No paral- 
lel can be found in history, ot a transition so rapid as 



202 N^OTES 

that of the United States from the lowest depression 1o 
the highest felicity— from the condition of weak and dis- 
jointf d republics, to that of a great, united, and prospe- 
rous nation. 

Although this high state of public happiness has un- 
dergone a miserable and afflicting reverse, through the 
prevalence of a weak and profligate policy, yet the evils 
and afflictions which have thus been induced upon the 
country, are. not peculiar to any form of Government. 
The lust and caprice of power, the corruption of patro- 
nage, the oppression of the weaker interests of the com- 
lYiunity by the stronger, heavy taxes, wasteful expendi- 
tures, and unjust and ruinous wars, are the natural off- 
spring of bad Administrations, in all ages and countries. 
It was in*leed to be hoped, that the rulers of these 
Slates would tiot make such disastrous haste to involve 
their infancy in the embarrassments cf old and rotten 
insiltuticns. Yet all this have they done ; and their 
conduct calls loudly for their dismission and disgrace. 
But to attempt upon every abuse of power to change 
the Constitution, would be to perpetuate the evils of re- 
volution. 

Again, the experiment of the powers of the Consti- 
tution, to regain its vigour, and of the people to recover 
from their delusions, has been hitherto made under the 
greatest possible disadvantages arising from the state 
of the world. The fierce passions (vhich have convuls- 
ed the nations of Europe, have passed the Ocean, and 
finding their way to the bosoms of our citizens, have af- 
forded to Administration the means of perverting pub- 
lic opinion, in respect to our foreign relations, so as to 
acquire its aid in the indulgence of their animosities, 
and the increase of their adherents. Further, a refor- 



NOTES. 203 

maiion of public opinion, resulting from dear bought 
experience, in the Southern Atlantic States, at least, is 
not to be despaired of. They will have felt, that the 
Eastern States cannot be made exclusively the victims 
of a capricious and Impassioned policy. — They will have 
seen that the great and essential interests of the people, 
are common to the South and to the East. They will 
realize the fatal errors of a system, which s€eks re- 
venge for commercial injuries in the sacrifice of com- 
merce, and aggravates by needless wars, to an im- 
measurable extent, the injuries it professes to redress. 
They may discard the influence of visionary theorists, 
and recognize the benefits of a practical policy. Indi- 
cations of this desirable revolution of opinion, among 
our brethren in those States, are already manifested. — 
While a hope remains of its ultimate completion, its 
progress should not be retarded or stopped, by exciting 
fears which must check these favourable tendencies, 
and frustrate the efforts of the wisest and best men in 
those States, to accelerate this propitious change. 

Finally, if the Union be destined to dissolution, by 
reason of the multiplied abuses of bad administrations, 
it should, if possible, be the work of peaceable times, 
and deliberate consent. — Some new form of confederacy 
should be substituted among those States, which shall 
intend to maintain a federal relation to each other.— 
Events may prove that the causes of our calamities are 
deep and permanent. They may be found to proceed, 
not merely from t^ie blindness of prejudice, pride of 
opinion, violence of party spirit, or the confusion of the 
times ; but they may be traced to implacable combina- 
tions of individuals, or of States, to monopolize power 
and office, and to trample without remorse upon the 



204 NOTES. 

riglits and interests'of commercial sections of the Union. 
Whenever it shall appear that these causes are rtidical 
and permanent, a separation by equitable arrangement, 
will be preferable to an alliance by constraint, among 
nominal friends, but real enemies, inflamed by miituat 
hatred and jealousy, and inviting by intestine divisions, 
contempt, and aggression from abroad. But a seve- 
rance of the Union by one or more States, against the 
will of the rest, and especially in a time of war, can bs 
justified only by absolute necessity. These are among 
the principal objections against precipitate measures 
tending to disunite the States, and when examined in 
connection with the farewell address of the Father of 
his country, they must, it is believed, be deemed conclu- 
sive. 

Under these impressions, the Convention have pro- 
ceeded to confer and deliberate upon the alarming state 
of public affairs, especially, as affecting the interests of 
the people who have appointed them for this purpose, 
and they are naiurally led to a consideration, in the first 
place, of the dangers and grievances which menace an 
immediate or speedy pressure, with a view of sugges- 
ting means of present relief; in the next place, of such 
as are of a more remote and general description, in the 
hope of attaining future security. 

Among the subjects of complaint and apprehension, 
which might be comprised under the former of these 
propositions, the attention of the Convention has been 
occupied with the claims and pretensions advanced, and 
the authority exeixised over the militia, by the execu* 
tive and legislative departments of the National Govern- 
ment. Also, upon the destitution of the means of de- 
fence in which the Eastern States are left j while at the 



NOTES. 205 

same time they are doomed to heavy requisitions of men 
and money for national objects. 

The authority of the National Government over the 
militia is derived from those clauses in the Constitution 
which give power to Congress " to provide for calling 
forth the militia to execute the laws of the Union, sup- 
press insurrections and repel invasions*' — Also " to 
provide for organizing, arming and disciplining the 
militia, and for governing such parts of them as may be 
employed in the service of the United States, reserving 
to the States respectively the appointment of the offi- 
cers, and the authority of training the militia accord- 
ing to the discipline prescribed by Congress." Again, 
« The President shall be Commander in Chief of the 
army and navy of the United States, and of the militia 
of the several States, nvhen called into the actual service 
of the United SiateaJ* In these specified cases only, 
has the National Government any power over the mili- 
tia J and it follows conclusively that for all general and 
ordinary purposes, this power belongs to the States re- 
spectively, and to them alone. It is not only with re- 
gret, but with astonishment, the Convention perceive 
that under colour of an authority conferred with such 
plain and precise limitations, a power is arrogated by 
the executive government, and in some instances sanc- 
tioned by the two Houses of Congress, of control 
over the militia, which if conceded will render nugatory 
the rightful authority of the individual Slates over that 
class of men, and by placing at the disposal of the Na- 
tional Government the lives and services of the great 
body of the people, enable it at pleasure to destroy their 
liberties, and erect a military despotism on the ruins. 
An elaborate examination of the principles assumed 

S 



206 NOTES. 

for the basis of these extravagant pretensions, of the 
consequences to which they lead, and of the insur- 
mountable objections to their admission, would tran- 
scend the limits of this Report. A few general observa- 
tions, with an exhibition of the character of these pre- 
tensions and a recommendation of a strenuous opposi- 
tion to them, must not however be omitted. 

It will not be contended that by the terms used in the 
constitutional compact, the power of the National Gov- 
ernment to call out the militia is other than a power 
expressly limited to three cases. One of these must 
exist, as a condition precedent to the exercise of that 
power — Unless the laws shall be opposed, or an insur-» 
rection shall exist, or an invasion shall be made, Con- 
gress, and of consequence the President as their organ, 
has no more power over the militia than over the armies 
of a foreign nation. 

But if the declaration of the President should be ad- 
mitted to be an unerring test of the existence of these 
cases, this important power would depend, not upon 
the truth of the fact, but upon executive infallibility. 
And the limitation of the power would consequently be 
nothing more than merely nominal, as it might always 
be eluded. It follows therefore that the decision of the 
President in this particular, cannot be conclusive. It 
is as much the duty of the State authorities to watch 
over the rights reserved^ as of the United States to ex- 
ercise the powers which are delegated. 

The arrangement of the United States into military 
districts, with a small portion of the regular force, un- 
der an officer of high rank of the standing army, with 
power to call for the militia, as circumstances in his 
judgmeDt may require j and to assume the command 



NOTES. 207 

of them, is not warranted by the Consiitulion or any 
liw of the United States. It is not denied that Con- 
gress may delegate to the President of the United 
States, the power to call forth the milida in the cases 
which are within their jurisdiction — Bat he has no 
authority to substitute military prefects throughout the 
Union, to use their own discretion in such instances. 
To station an officer of the army in a military district 
without troops corresponding to his rank, for the pur- 
pose of taking command of the militia that may be cell- 
ed into service, is a manifest evasion of that provision of 
the Constitution which expressly reserves to the States 
the appointment of the officers of the militia j and the 
object of detaching such officer cannot be well conclud- 
ed to be any other than that of superseding the Gover- 
nor or other officers of the militia in their right to comr 
mand. 

The power of dividing the miliiia of the Slates into 
classes and obliging such classes to furnish by contract 
or draft, able bodied men, to serve for one or mere 
years for the defence of the frontier, is not delegated to 
Congress. If a claim to draft the miliiia for one year 
for such general object be admissible, no limitaiion can 
be as.signed to it, but the discretion of those Vrho make 
the law. Thus with a power in Congress to authorize 
such a draft or conscription, and in the Executive to de- 
cide conclusively upon the existence and conlinuance 
of the emergency, the whole militia may be converted 
into a standing army disposable at the will of the Pre- 
sident of the United States. 

The power of compelling the militia, and other 
citizens of the United States by a forcible draft or con- 
scription to serve in the regubr armies as propos^ed in 



208 NOTES. 

a late official letter of the Secretary of War, is rfot del- 
egated to Congress by the Constitution, and the exer- 
cise of it would be not less dangerous to their liberties, 
than hostile to the sovereignty of the States. The 
effort to deduce this power from the right of raising 
armies, is a flagrant attempt to pervert the sense of the 
clause in tlie Constitution which confers that right, and 
is incompatible with other provisions in that instru- 
ment. The armies of the United States have always 
been raised by contract, never by conscription, and 
nothing more can be wanting to a Governm.cnt possess- 
ing the power thus claimed to enable it to usurp the en- 
lire control of the miiilia, in derogation of the authority 
of the State, and to convert it by impressment into a 
standing army. 

It may be here remarked, as a circumstance iilustra- 
live of the determination of the Executive to establish 
an absolute control over all descriptions of citizens, 
that the right of impressing seamen into the naval ser- 
vice is expressly asserted by the Secretary of the Navy 
in a late report. Thus a practice, which in a foreign 
government has been regarded with great abhorrence 
by the people, finds advocates among those who have 
been the loudest to condemn it. 

The law authorizing the enlistment of minors and ap- 
prentices into the armies of the United States, without 
the consent of parents and guardians, is^lso repugnant 
to the spirit of the Constitution. By a construction of 
the power to raise armies, as applied by our present 
rulers, not only persons capable of contracting are lia- 
ble to be impressed into the army, but those who are 
under legal disabilities to make contracts, are to be in- 
vested with the capacity, in order to enable them to an- 



NOTES. 



209 



Mul at pleasure contracts made in their behalf by legal 
guardians. Such an interference with the municipal 
laws and rights of the several States, could never have 
been contemplated by the framers of the Constitution-. 
It impairs the salutary control and influence of the pa*- 
rent over his child — the master over his servant— the 
guardian over his ward — and thus destroys the most im- 
portant relations in society, so that by the conscription 
of the father, and the seduction of the son, the power 
of the Executive over all the effective male population 
of the United States is made complete. 

Such are some of the odious features of the novel 
system proposed by the rulers of a free country, under 
the limited powers derived from the Constitution. 
What portion of them will be embraced in acts finally 
to be passed, it is yet impossible to determine. It is, 
however, sufficiently alarming to perceive, that these 
projects emanate from the highest authority,'nor should 
it be forgotten, that by the plan of the Secretary of War, 
the classification of the militia embraced the principle 
of direct taxation upon the white population only ; and 
that, in the House of Representatives, a motion to 
apportion the miliiia among the white population ex- 
clusively, which would have been |in its operation jr 
direct tax, was strenuously urged and supported. 

In this whole series of devices and measures for 
raising men, this Convention discern a total disregard 
for the Constitution, and a disposition to violate its pro- 
visions, demanding from the individual Slates a firm 
and decided opposition. An iron despotism can impose 
no harder servitude upon the citizen, than to force 
him from his home and his occupation, to wage offen- 
sive wars, undertaken to gratify the pride or passions 



s2 



210 NOTES. 

of his master. The example of France has recently 
shewn that a cabal of individuals assuming to act in the 
name of the people, may transform the great body of 
citizens into soldiers, and deliver thera over into the 
hands of a single tyrant. No war, not held in just ab- 
horrence by a people, can require the aid of such 
stratagems to recuit an army. Had the troops already 
raised, and in great numbers sacrificed upon the frontier 
of Canada, been employed for the defence of the coun- 
try, and had the millions which have been squandered 
with shameless profusion, been appropriated to their 
payment, to the protection of the coast, and to the naval 
service, there would have been no occasion for uncon- 
stitutional expedients. Even at this late hour, let Gov- 
ernment leave to New-England the remnant of her re- 
sources, and she is ready and able to defend her territo- 
ry, and to resign the glories and advantages of the border 
^var, to those who are determined to persist in its pros- 
ecution. 

That acts of Congress in violation of the Consiitution 
are absolutely void, is an undeniable position. It does 
not, however, consist with respect and forbearance due 
from a confederate State towards the General Govern- 
ment, to fly to open resistance upon every infraction of 
the Constitution. The mode and the energy of the 
opposition, should always conform to the nature of the 
violation, the iniention of its authors, the extent of the 
injury inflicted, the determination manifested to persist 
in it, and the danger of delay. But in cases of delibe- 
rate, dangerous, and palpable infractions of the Consti- 
tution, affecting the sovereignty of a State, and liberties 
of the people ; it is not only the right but the duly of 
such a State to interpose its authority for their protec""- 



NOTES. 211 

tion, in the manner best calculated to secure that end. 
When emergencies occur which are cither beyond the 
reach of the judicial tribunals, or too pressing to admit 
of the delay incident to their forms, States, which have 
no common umpire, must be their own judges, and 
execute their own decisions. It will thus be proper 
for the sevv I States to await the ultimate disposal of 
the obnoxious measures, recommended by the Secreta- 
ry of War, or pending before Congress, and so to 
use their power according to the character these mea- 
sures shall finally assume, as effectually to protect their 
own sovereignty, and the rights and^liberties of jtheir 
citizens. 

The next subject which has occupied the attenlion> 
of the Convention, is the means of defence against the 
common enemy. This naturally leads to the inquiries, 
whether any expectation can be reasonably entertained, 
that adequate provision for the defence of the Eastern 
States will be made by the National Government ? 
Whether the several States can, from their own resour» 
ces, provide for self-defence a»d fulfil the requisitions 
whic^ are to be expected for the national Treasury ? and, 
generally, what course of conduct ought to be adopted 
by those States, ia relation to the great object of de- 
fence. 

Without pausing at present to comment upon the 
causes of the war, it may be assumed as a truth, offi- 
cially announced, that to achieve the conquest of Cana- 
dian territory, and to hold it as a pledge for peace, is 
the ileliberate purpose of Administration. This enter- 
prize, commenced a ta period when Goverment poss- 
sessed the advantage of selecting the time and occasion 
for making a sudden descent upon an unprepared enemv 



212 NOTE 



o> 



now languishes in the third year of the war. It has 
been prosecuted with various fortune, and occasional 
brilliancy of exploit, but without any solhl acquisition. 
The British armies have been recruited by veteran re- 
giments. Their navy commands Ontario. The Ameri- 
can ranks are thinned by the casualties of war. Re- 
cruits are discouraged by the unpopular character of 
the contest, and by the uncertainty of receiving their 
pay. 

In the prosecution of this £avourite warfare, Admin- 
istration have left the exposed and vulnerable parts of 
the country destitute of all the efficient means of de- 
fence. The main body of the regular army has been 
marched to the frontier. — The navy has been stripped 
of a great part of its sailors for the service of the 
Lakes. Meanwhile the enemy scours the sea-coast, 
blockades our ports, ascends our bays and rivers, makes 
actual descents in various and distant places, holds 
some by force, and threatens all that are assailable, with 
fire and sword. The- sea-board of fbur of the New-Eng- 
land States, following its curvatures, presents an ex- 
tent of more than seven hundred miles, generally oc- 
cupied by a compact population, and accessible by a na- 
val force, exposing a mass of people and property tc the 
devastation of the enemy, which bears a great propor- 
tion to the residue of the maritime frontier of the Unit- 
ed States. This extensive shore has been exposed 
to frequent attacks, repeated contributions, and con- 
stant alarms. The regiilar forces detached by the na- 
tional government for its defence, are mere pretexts 
for placing officers of high rank in command. They 
are besides confined to a few places, and are too insig- 
nificant in number to be included in any computation. 



NOTES. 11 



o 



These States have thus been left to adopt measures 
for their own defence. The militia have been constant- 
ly kept on the alert, and harassed by garrison duties, 
and other hardships, while the expenses, of which the 
NationalGovernment decline the reimbursement, threat- 
en to absorb all the resources of the States. The Pres- 
ident of the United States has refused to consider the 
expense of the militia detached by State authority, for 
the indispensable defence of the State, as chargeable to 
the Union, on the ground of a refusal by the Executive 
of the State, to place them under the command of officers 
of the regular army. Detachments of miliiia placed at 
the disposal of the General Government, have been dis- 
missed either without pay, or with depreciated paper. 
The prospect of the ensuing campaign is not enlivened 
by the promise cf any alleviation of these grievances. 
From anther ''c d*- cutiients^ extorted by necessity from 
those whose iiiciination might lead them to conceal the 
embarrassments of the Government, it is apparent that 
the treasury is bankrupt, and its ci edit prostrate. So 
deplorable is the slate of the finances, that those who 
feel for the honour and safety of the country, would be 
willing to conceal the melancholy spectacle, if those 
whose infatuation has produced this state of fiscal con- 
cerns, had not found themselves compelled to unveil it 
to public view. 

If the war be continued, there appears no room for 
reliance upon the national government for the supply of 
those means of defence, which must become indispensa- 
ble to secure these States from desolation and ruin. Nor 
is it possible that the States can discharge this sacred 
duty from their own resources, and continue to sustain 
the burden of the national taxes. The Administration, 



214 NOTES. 

after a long perseverance in plans to baffle every effort 
of commercial enterprize, had fatally succeeded in their 
attempts at the epoch of the war. Commerce, the vital 
spring of New- England's prosperity, was annihilated. 
Embargoes, restrictions, and the rapacity of revenue of- 
nctrSi had completed its destruction. The various ob- 
jects for the employment of productive labour, in the 
braxiches of business dependent on commerce, have dis- 
appeared. The fisheries have sliared its fate. Manu- 
factures, which Government has professed an intention 
to favour and to cherish, as an indemnily for tiie failure 
of these branches of business, are doomed to struggle in. 
their infancy with taxes and obstructions, which cannot 
fail most seriously to affect their grov/th. The specie is 
withdrawn from circulation. The landed interest, the 
last to fee! these burdens, must prepare to become their 
principal support, as all other sources of revenue must 
be exhausted. Under these circumstances, taxes, of a 
descriplicn and amount unprecedented in this country, 
are in a train of imposition, the burden of which must 
fall with the heaviest pressure upon the States east of 
the Potomac. The amount of these taxes for the en- 
suing year, cannot be estimated at less than five millions 
of dollars upon the New-England Slates, and the expen- 
ses of the last year for defence, in MasJ^achusetts alone, 
approaches to one million of dollars. 

from these facts, it is almost superfluous to state the 
irresistible inference that these States have no capacity 
of defraying the expense requisite for their own protec- 
tion, and, at the same time, of discharging the demands 
of the national treasury. 

The last inquiry, what course of conduct ought to be 
adopted by the aggrieved States, is in a high degree 



NOTES. 115 

momentous. When a great and brave people shall feel 
themselves deserted by their Government, and reduced 
to the necessity either of submission to a foreign enemy, 
or of appropriating to their own use, those means of de- 
fence which are indispensable to self-preservation, they 
cannot consent to wait passive spectators of approaching 
ruin, which it is in their power to avert, and to resign 
the last remnant of their industrious earnings, to be dis- 
sipated in support of measures destructive of the best 
interests of the nation. 

This Convention will not trust themselves to express 
their conviction of the catastrophe to which such a state 
of things inevitably tends. Conscious of their high re- 
sponsibility to God and their country, solicitous for the 
continuance of the Union, as well as the sovereignty of 
the States, unwilling to furnish obstacles to peace— reso- 
lute never to submit to a foreign enemy, and confidinr 
in the Divine care and protection, they will, until the 
last hope shall be extinguished, endeavour to avert such 
consequences. 

With this view they suggest an arrangement, which 
may at once be consistent with the honour and interest 
of the National Government, and the security of these 
Stales. This it will not be difficult to conclude, if that 
government should be so disposed. By the terms of it 
these States might be allowed to assume their own de- 
fence, by the militia or other troops. A reasonable por- 
tion, also, of the taxes raised in each State might be 
paid into its treasury, and credited to the United Slates, 
but to be appropriated to the defence of such State, to 
be accounted for with the United States. No doubt is 
entertained tha^ by such an arrangement, this portion of 
the country could be defended with greater effect, and 



116 NOTES. 

in a mode more consistent with economy, and the pub- 
lic convenience, than any which has been practised. 

Should an application for these purposes, made to 
Congress by the State Legislatures, be attended with 
success, and should peace upon just terms appear to be 
unattainable, the people would stand together for the 
common defence, until a change of Administration, or 
of disposition in the enemy, should facilitate the occur- 
rence of that auspicious event. It would be inexpe- 
dient for thi9 Convention to diminish the hope of a suc- 
cessful issue to such an application, by recommending, 
upon supposition of a contrary event, ulterior proceed- 
ings. Nor is it indeed within their province. In a 
state of things so solemn and trying as may then arise, 
the Legislatures of the States, or Conventions of the 
whole people, or delegates appointed by ihem for the 
express purpose in another Convention, must act as such 
urgent circumstances may then require. 

But the duty incumbent on this Convention will not 
have been performed, without exhibiting some general 
view of such measures as they deem essential to secure 
the nation against a relapse into difficulties and dangers, 
should they, by the blessing of Providence, escape from 
their present condition, without absolute ruin. To this 
end a concise retrospect of the state of this nation under 
the advantages of a wise Administration, contrasted with 
the miserable abyss into which it is plunged by the prof- 
ligacy and folly of political theorists, will lead to some 
practical conclusions. On this subject, it will be recol- 
lected, that the immediate influence of the Fedeial Con. 
stitution upon its first adoption) and for twelve succeed- 
ing years, upon the prosperity and happiness of the na- 
tion, seemed to countenance a belief in the tnmscendfcncy 



NOTES. 217 

ef its perfection over all other human mstitutions. In 
the catalogue of blessings, which have fallen to the lot of 
the most favoured nations, none could be enumerated 
from which cur country was excluded — A free Constitu- 
tion, administered by great and incorruptible statesmen, 
realized the fondest hopes of liberty and independence — - 
The progress of agriculture was stimulated by the cer- 
tainly of value in the harvest — and commerce, after tra- 
versing every sea, returned with the riches of every 
clime. — A revenue, secured by a sense of honour, col- 
lected without oppression, and paid without murmurs, 
melted away the national debt ; and the chief concern 
of the public creditor arose from its too rapid diminu- 
tion. — The wars and commotions of the European na- 
tions andtheirinterrupiionsof the commercial intercourse 
afforded to those who had not promoted, but who would 
have rejoiced to alleviate their calamities, a fair and gold- 
en opportunity, by combining themselves to lay a broad 
foundation for national weahh— Although occasional 
vexuiioiis to commerce, arose from the furious collisions 
of the powers at war, yet the great and good men of that 
time conformed to the fi.rce of circumstances which 
they could not coniroul, and preserved their country in 
security from the tempests which overwhelmed the old 
world, and threw the wreck of their fortunes on these 
shores. — Respect abroad, prosperity at home, wise iaws 
made by honoured legislators, and pronipt obedience 
yielded by a contented people, had silenced the enemies 
of republican institutions.— -The arts flourished — the 
sciences were cultivated — the comforts and convenien- 
ces of life were universally dtffu>>ed — .nd nothing re- 
mained for succeeding administrations, but to reap the 

T 



218 KOTES. 

advantages, and cherish the resources, flowing from 
jthe policy of their predecessorst 

But no sooner was a new administration established in 
the hands of the party opposed to the Washington policy, 
than a fixed determination was perceived and avowed of 
changing a system which had already produced these 
substantial fruits. The consequences of this change, for 
a few years after its commencement, were not sufficient 
to counteract the prodigious impulse towards prosperity, 
which had been given to the nation. But a steady per- 
severance in the new plans of administration, at length 
developed their weakness and deformity, but not until a 
majority of the people had been deceived by flatteiy, and 
inflamed by passion, into blindness to their defects. Un- 
der the withering influence of this new system, the de- 
clension of the nation has been uniform and rapid. The 
richest advantages for securing the great objects of the 
Constitution have been wantonly rejected. While Eu- 
rope reposes from the convulsions that had shaken 
down her ancient institutions, she beholds with amaze- 
ment this remote country, once so happy and so envied, 
involved in a ruinous vvar,and excluded from intercourse 
with the rest of the world. 

To investigate and explain the means whereby this 
fatal reverse has been effected, would require a volumi- 
nous discussion. Nothing more can be attempted in 
thib Report, than a general allusion to the principal out- 
lines of the policy which has produced this vicissitude. 
Among these may be enumerated 

/^/r*;.— A deliberate and extensive system for ef- 
fecting a combination among certain States, by exciting 
local jealousies and ambition, so as to secure lo popular 
leaders in one section of the Union, the controul of pub- 



NOTES, 219? 

lie affairs in perpetual succession. To which primary 
object most other characteristics of the system may be 
reconciled. 

Secondly, — The political intolerance displayed and 
avowedjin excluding from office men of unexceptionable 
me*'it, for want of adherence to the executive creed. 

Thirdly. — The infraction of the judiciary authority 
and rights, by depriving judges of their offices in viola- 
tion of the Constitution. 

Fourthly—The abolition of existing Taxes, requisite 
to prepare the Country for those changes to which na- 
tions are always exposed, with a view to the acquisition 
of popular favour. 

i^^yiVi/i/. — The influence of patronage in the distribu- 
tion of offices, which in these States has been almost in- 
variably made among men the least intitled to such dis- 
tinction, and who have sold themselves as ready instru- 
ments for distracting public opinion, and encouraging 
administration to hold in contempt the wishes and re- 
monstrances of a people thus apparently divided. 

Sixthly — The admission of new States into the 
Union, formed at pleasure in the western region, has 
destroyed the balance of power which existed among 
the original States, and deeply affected their interest. 

Seventhly —ThQ easy admission of naturalized- 
foreigners, to places of trust, honour or profit, operating 
as an inducement to the malcontent subjects of the old 
world to come to these States, in quest of executive pa- 
tronage, and to repay it by an abject devotion to execu- 
tive measures. 

£igh(hly, -^Hosiiliiy to Great- Britian, and partiality 
to the late government of France, adopted as coincident 
with popular prejudice, and subservient to the main ob- 
ject, party power. Connected with these must be rank* 



220 NOTES* 

ed erroneous and distorted estimates of the power and 
resources of those nations, of the probable results of 
their controversies, and of our political relations to them 
respectively. 

Lastly and firincifially . — A visionary and superficial 
theory in regard to commerce, accompanied by a real 
hatred but a feigned regard to its interests, and a/uin- 
ous perseverance in efforts to render it ar^ instrument of 
coercion and war. 

Biit it is not conceivable that the obliquity of any ad- 
ministration could, in so short a period, have so nearly 
consummated the work of national ruin, unless favoured 
by defects in the Constitution. 

To enumerate all the improvements of which that in- 
strument is susceptible, and to propose such amend - 
jments as might render it in all respects perfect, would 
b€ a task, which this Convention has not thought proper 
to assume. — They have confined their attention to such 
as experience has demonstrated to be essential, and even 
am.ong these, some are considered entitled to a more 
serious attention than others. They are suggested with- 
out any intentional disrespect to other States, and are 
meant to be such as all shall find an interest in promot- 
ing. Their object is to strengthen, and if possible to 
perpetuate, the Union of the States, by removing the 
grounds of existing jealousies, and providing for a fair 
and equal representation and a limitation of powers^ 
which have been misused. 

The first amendment proposed, relates to the appor- 
tionment of Representatives among the slave holding 
States. This cannot be claimed as a righ . Those 
States are entitled to the slave representation, by a con- 
s-titutional compact. It is therefore merely a subject oS 



KOTES. 221 

agreement, which should be conducted upon principles 
of mutual interest and accommodation, and upon which 
no sensibility on either side should be permitted to ex- 
ist. It has proved unjust and unequal in its operation. 
Had this effect been foreseen, the privilege would pro- 
bably not have been demanded j certainly not conceded. 
Its tendency in future will be adverse to that harmony 
and mutual confidence, which are more conducive to 
the happiness and prosperity of every confederated 
State, than a mere preponderance of power, the prolific 
source of jealousies and controversy, can be to any one 
of them. The time may therefore arrive, when a sense 
of magnanimity and justice will reconcile those States 
to acquiesce in a revision of this article, especially as 
a fair equivalent would result to theni in the apportion- 
ment of taxes. 

The next amendment relates to the admission of new < 
Slates into the union. 

This amendment is deemed to be highly important, 
and in fact indispensable. In proposing it, it is not 
intended to recognize the right of Congress to admit 
new States without the original limits of the United 
States, nor is any idea entertained, of disturbing the 
tranquillity of any State already admitted into the union. 
The object is merely to restrain the constitutional pow- 
er of Congress in admitting new States. At the adop- 
tion of Constitution, a certain balance of pov/er among 
the original parties was considered to exist, and there 
was at that time, and yet is among those parties, a 
strong affinity between their great and general inter- 
ests — By the admission of these States that balance has 
been materially affected, and unless the practice be 
modified, must ultimately be destroyed. The Southern 

t2 



222 NOTES* 

States will first avail themselves of their new confede- 
srytcs to govern the East, and finally the Western Slates 
multiplied in number, and augmented in population, will 
control the interests of the whole. Thus for ihe sake 
of present power, the Southern States will be common 
sufferers with the East, in the loss of permanent advan- 
tages. None of the old States can find an interest ia 
creating prematurely an overwhelming Western in- 
fluence, which may hereafier discern (as it has hereto- 
fore) benefits to be derived to them by wars and com- 
jnercial restrictions. 

The next amendments proposed by the Convention, 
relate to the powers of Congress, in relation to Embar- 
go and the interdiction of commerce. 

Whatever theories upon the subject of commerce, 
have hitherto divided the opinions of statesmen, expe- 
rience has at last shewn that it is a vital interest in the 
United States, and that its success is essential to the en- 
couragement of agriculture and manufactures, and to 
the wealth, finances, defence, and liberty of the nation. 
Its welfare can never interfere with the other great inter- 
ests of the State, but must promote and uphold them. 
Still those who are immediately concerned in the proscr 
cution of commerce, will of necessity be always a minor- 
it]^ of the nation. They are, however, best qualified ta 
manage and direct its course by the advantages of expe- 
yicnce, and the sense of interest. But they are entirely 
unable to protect themselves against the sudden and in- 
judicious decisions of bare majorities, and the mistaken 
or oppressive projects of those who are not actively con- 
cerned in its pursuits. Of consequence, this interest is 
always exposed to be harassed, interrupted, and entirely 
destroyed; upon pretence of securing other interests. 



NOTES. 



223 



Had the merchants of thia nation been permitted, by 
their own government, to pursue an innocent and lawful 
commerce, how different would have been the state of 
the treasury and of public credit 1 How short-sighted 
and miserable is the policy which has annihilated this 
order of men, and doomed their ships to rot in the docks, 
their capital to waste unemployed, and their affections 
to be alienated from the Government which was formed 
to protect them 1 What security for an ample and un- 
failing revenue can ever be had» comparable to that 
which once was realized in the good faith, punctuality, 
and sense of honour, which attached the mercantile class 
to the interests of the Government I Without com- 
merce, where can be found the aliment for a navy ; and 
without a navy, what is to constitute the defence, and or- 
nament, and glory of this nation ! No union can be du- 
rably cemented, in which every great interest does not 
find itself reasonably secured against the encroachment 
and combinations of other interests. When, therefore^ 
the past system of embargoes and commercial restric- 
tions shall have been reviewed — when ihe fluctuatioa 
and inconsistency of public measures, betraying a want 
of information as well as feeling in the majority, shall 
have been considered, the reasonableness of some re- 
strictions upon the power of a bare majority to repeat 
these oppressions, will appear to be obvious. 

The next amendment proposes to restrict the pow&r 
of making offensive war. In the consideration of this 
amendment, it is not necessary to inquire into the jus^ 
tice of the present war But one sentiment now exists 
in relation to its expediency, and regret for its declara- 
tion is nearly universal. No indemnity can ever be at- 
tained for this tcnible calamity, and its only pallialion 



224 NOTE'S. 

must be found in obstacles to its future recurrence. 
Rarely can the state of this country call for or justify 
offensive war. The genius of our institutions is unfa- 
vourable to its successful prosecution ; the felicity of 
our situation exempts us from its necessity. — In this 
case, as in the former, those more immediately exposed 
to its fatal effects are a minority of the nation. The 
commercial towns, the shores of our seas and rivers, 
contain the population, whose vital interests are most 
vulnerable by a foreign enemy. Agriculture, indeed, 
must feel at last, but this appeal to its sensibility comes 
too late. Again, the immense population which has 
swarmed into the West, remote from immediate danger* 
and which is constantly augmenting, will not be averse 
from the occasional disturbances of the Atlantic States. 
Thus interest may not unfrequently combine with pas- 
sion and intrigue, to plunge the nation into needless 
wars, and compel it to become a military, rather thart a 
happy and fiourishing people. These considerations 
which it would be easy to augment, call loudly for the 
limitation proposed in the amendment. 

Another amendment, subordinate in importance, but 
still in a high degree expedient, relates to the exclusion 
©f foreigners, hereafter arriving in the United States, 
from the capacity of holding ofBces of trust, honour or 

profit. 

That the stock of population already in these States, 
is amply sufficient to render this nation in due time suf- 
ficiently great and powerful, is not a controvertible 
question. — Nor will it be seriously pretended, that the 
national deficiency in wisdom, arts, science, arms or 
virtue, needs to be replenished from foreign countries. 
S;ill, it is agreed, that a liberal policy should offer the 



NOTES. 225 

rights of hospiiaUty, and the choice of settlement, to 
those who are disposed to visit the country. — But why 
admit to a participation in the government aliens who 
were no parties to the compact — who are ignorant of 
the nature of our institutions, and have no slake in the 
>yelfare of the country, but what is recent and transitory? 
It is surely a privilege sufficient, to admit them afier 
due probation to become citizens, for all but political 
purposes. — To extend it beyond these limits, is to en- 
courage foreigners to come to these states as candidates 
for preferment. Tiie Convention forbear to express 
their opinion upon the inauspicious effects which have 
already resulted lo the honour and peace of this nation^ 
from this misplaced and indiscriminate liberality. 

The last amendment respects the limitation of the 
office of President, to a single constitutional term, and 
his eligibility from the same State two terms in succes- 
sion. 

Upon this topic, it is superfluous to dilate. The love 
of power is a principle in the human heart which too 
often impels to the use of all practicable means to pro- 
long its duration. The office of President has charms 
and attractions which operate as powerful incentives to 
this passion. The first and most natural exertion of a 
vast patronage is directed towards the security of a new- 
election- The interest of the country, the welfare of 
the people, even honest fame and respect for the opin- 
ion of posterity, are secondary considerations. All the 
engines of intrigue ; all the means of corruption, are 
likely to be employed for this object. A President 
whose political career is limited to a single election, may 
find no other interest than will be promoted by making 
it glorious to himself, and beneficial to his cotintry. But 



226 NOTES. 

the hope of re»election is prolific of temptations, under 
which these magnanimous motives are deprived of their 
principal force. The repeated election of the President 
of the United States from any one State, affords induce- 
ments and means for intrigue, which tend to create an 
undue local influence, and to establish the domination 
of particular States. The justice, therefore, of securing 
tD every State a fair and equal chance for the election 
of this officer from its own citizens is apparent, and this 
object will be esseniially promoted by preventing an 
election from the same State twice in succession. 

Such is the general view which this Convention has- 
thought proper to submit, of the situation of these States, 
of their dangers and their duties. Most of the subjects 
which it embraces have separately received an ample 
and luminous investigation, by the great and able asser- 
tors of the rights of their Country, in the National Le- 
gislature ; and nothing more could be attempted on this 
occasion, than a digest of general principles, and of re- 
commendations, suited to the present state of public af- 
fairs. The peculiar difficulty and delicacy of perform- 
ing, even this undertaking, will be appreciated by all 
who thing seriously upon the crisis. Negotiations for 
Peace, are at this hour supposed to be pending, the is- 
sue of which must be deeply interesting to all. No 
measures should be adopted, which might unfiivorably 
affect that issue j none which should embarrass the 
Administration, if their professed desire for peace is sin- 
cere j and none, which on supposition of their insincer- 
ity, should afford them pretexts for prolonging the war 
or relieving themselves from the responsibility of a dis- 
honorable peace. It is also devoutly to be wished, that 
an occasion mav be afforded to all frier.ds of the country. 



NOTES. 227 

^f all parties, and in all places, to pause and consider 
the awful state to which pernicious counsels and blind 
passions, have brought this people. The number of 
those who perceive, and who are ready to retrace errors, 
must it is believed be yet sufficient to redeem the nation. 
It is necessary to rally and unite them by the assurance 
that no hostility to the Constitution is meditated, and to 
obtain their aid, in placing it under guardians, who 
alone can save it from destruction. Should this fortu- 
nate change be effected, the hope of happiness and honor 
may once more dispel the surrounding gloom. Our na- 
tion may yet be great, our union durable. But should 
this prospect be utterly hopeless, the time will not have 
been lost, which shall have ripened a general sentiment 
of the necessity of more mighty efforts to rescue from 
ruin, at least some portion of our beloved Country. 

THEREFORE RESOLVED - 

That it be and hereby is recommended to the Le- 
gislatures of the several States represented in this Con- 
vention, to adopt all such measures as may be necessa' 
ry effectually to protect the citizens of said States t:om 
the operation and effects of all acts which have been or 
may be passed by the Congress of the Uni-ed States, 
which shall contain provisions, subjecting the militia 
or other citizens to forcible drafts, conscriptions, or im- 
pressvaents, nor autho; ised by the Constitution of the 
United States. 

Reso'ved, That it be and hereby is recommended to 
the Scud Legislatures* to authorize an immediate and 
eariu.st application to be made to the Government of 
the United Sutes, requesting their consent to some ar- 
rangement,whereby the said States may, separately or in 



228 NOTES. 

concert, be empowered to assume upon themselves the 
defence of their territory against the enemy; and a reas- 
onable portion of the taxes, collected within suid 
States, may be paid into the respective treasuries there- 
of, and appropriated to the payment of the balance due 
said Slates, and to the future defence of the same. The 
amount so paid into the said treasuries to be credited, 
and the disbursements made as aforesaid to be charged 
lo the United Stales, 

Resolved, That it be, and it hereby is, recommended 
lo the Legislatures, of the aforesaid States, to pass laws 
(where it has not already been done) authorizing the 
Governors or Commanders in Chief of their militia to 
make detachments from the same, or to form volunta- 
ry corps, i'.s shall be most convenient and conformable 
to tnejr Constiiuiions, and lo cause the same to be well 
armed, equipped and disciplined, and held in readiness 
for >eivice ; and upon the request of the Governor of 
either of the oihei States to employ the whole cf such 
deiachmeni or corps, as well as the regular forces of 
the State, or such part iheieof a§ may be required and 
can be spared coLisiotentiy with the safeiy of the State, 
in assisting the State, wu.king such request to repel 
any invasion thereof which shall be made or attempted 
by iho pu )lic enemy 

Resolved That the following amendments of the 
ConsiitU'.ion of the United Slates, be recommended to 
the Slates represented as atoresaid, to be proposed by 
them for adoption by the State Legislatures, and, in such 
cases as nu»y be deeuK-d expedient, by a Convention 
choijcn by the pf;opi> oi each State. 

And it is '['urther recon:. •i".M>ds.-(l, ihat the said Slates 
shuil pe.'scveie id their fi'* vajn buch amend- 

ments, until the same shall be eftcctcd. 



NOTES. 229 

JPirst. Representatives and direct taxes shall be ap- 
portioned among the several States which may be includ- 
ed within this union, according to their respective num- 
bers of free persons, including those bound to serve 
for a term of years and excluding Indians not taxed, 
and all othej persons. 

Second, No new State shall be admitted into the 
union by Congress in virtue of the power granted by 
the Constitution, without the concurrence of two thirds 
of both Houses. 

Third. Congress shall not have power to lay any 
embargo on the ships or vessels of the citizens of the 
United States, in the ports or harbours thereof^ for more 
than sixty days. 

Fourth. Congress shall not have power, without the 
concurrence of two thirds of both Houses, to interdict 
the commercial intercourse between the Unitt J Statefe 
and any fo reign -liation or the dependencies thereof. 

Fifth, Congress shall not make or declare war, or 
authorize acts of hostility against any foreign nation 
without the concurrence of two thirds of both Houses, 
except such acts of hostility be in defence of the terri- 
tories of the United States when actually invaded. 

Sixth. No person v/ho shall hereafter be naturalize 
ed, shall be eligible as a member of the Senate or 
House of Representatives of the United States, nor ca- 
pable of holding any civil office under the authority of 
the United State s» 

Seventh. Ihe same person shall not be elected Pi-es- 
» ident of the United States a second time ; nor shall the 
President be elected from the same State two terms in 
succession. 

Raoived, That if the application of these States tc 



230 NOTESl 

the government of the United States, recommended in a 
foregoing Resolution, should be unsuccessful, and peace 
should not be concluded, and the defence of these 
States should be neglected, as it has been since the 
commencement of the war, it will in the opinion of this 
Convention, be expedient for the Legislatures of the sev- 
eral States to appoint Delegates to another Convention 
to meet at Boston in the State of Massachusetts, on the 
third Thursday of June next, with such powers and 
instructions as the exigency of a crisis so momentous 
may require. 

Besolvedf That the Hon. George Cabot, the HonJ 
Chauncey Goodrich, and the Hon. Daniel Lyman, or any 
twoof them, be authorized to call another meeting of 
this Convention, to be holden in Boston, at any time be- 
fore new Delegates shall be chosen, as recommended in 
the above Resolution, if in their judgment the situation 
of the Country shall urgently require it. 

(6) The grossest indignity ever offered to the Ameri- 
can people, was in the appointment of Albert Gallatin, 
to be Secretary of the Treasury. This man was a 
Beedy adventurer from a foreign country, scarcely well 
enough acquainted with our language to make himself 
understood as a public speaker— he had been but a 
short time before, deeply engaged in a daring insurrec- 
tion against the government of the country, and was a 
fair subject for a prosecution for treason. But that 
transaction which rendered him an object of abhorrence 
to good men, secured his popularity with Mr. Jeffer- 
son. General Washington's pardon for rebellion, was 
a passport to one of the highest offices in Mr. Jefferson's 
disposal. He bestowed it on Gallatin— -aad he, whc- 



NOTES.' 231 

commenced his career in this country by teaching the 
French language (he was not polished or pliable enough 
for a dancing-master), is now reputed to be one of the 
richest men in the United States, and is the represen- 
tative of our government at a foreign court. But we 
believe, that, notwithstanding all his wealth and honours^ 
he has the satisfaction of being conscious, that he is at 
present the object of as universal dislike— I might add 
of detestation—from all parties, as any man in the 
United States. 

(7) For further particulars concerning this virtuous 
compact the reader is referred to "^r. Senator Giles; 
of Virginia* 



Page 12, line 14, from top, dele s in " emolaments." * 

15, 2i, read author. 

15, 5 from bottom, insert a comma after " comtitulioHy * 

17, 18, from top, dele ** with,'* and insert it after " cal- 

culated," in the same line. 
J 9, 15, from top, read " laios" 

22, 6, from bottom, insert a comma after ** misfortuneSy* 

23, 6, do. do. after *' permanent ^^ 
26, 12, do. do. after " recording," 

28, 12, from top, dele comma after "situation" 
16, insert comma after " three," 

29, 3, from top, insert comma after " Carey,"— same 

page, line 20, insert comma after " subject," 
32, 9> from top, read course of democratic policy. 

42, 1 1, from top, insert a comma and read and threatenel 
56, 12, read track. 
64, 3, read almost every method. • 

70, 5, from bottom, read complaint. 

85, 6, from top, read retribution. 

99, 4> read aur reputations. 

104, 3, insert a blank instead of a period after the firsi 

** corruption." 
3, from bottom, read rices and infirmities. 
123, 4, from top, dele it. 

132, 12, read militia. 

234, 4 and 5 from bottom, read one Bricjadier General. 

2 58, 6, from top, read in a manner. 

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